Important notice from the GRAMMAR POLICE. Plz read. This means you.
rohina:
The Grammar Check on MS Word is notoriously dreadful; it has no idea about pronoun agreement, and there are perfectly grammatical sentences you can write (especially using nouns and verbs ending in -ing) that it will mark as incorrect. I have a grammar exercise I give my students that is entirely made up of sentences the Grammar Check interprets incorrectly.
michaelrym:
Quote from: rohina on 2009 July 26, 01:48:16
Essentially, my position is that spelling, punctuation and grammar are craft; stylistics is art. Compare it to painting: any hamtard can throw paint at a canvas, and maybe sometimes even get an aesthetically pleasing result, but a real artist has command of technique and craft, and knows WHY he/she achieved an aesthetically pleasing result.
Sorry to nitpick, but I just cannot agree with that.
A person who has command of technique and craft is just a good craftsman. An artist also has - in addition - his own, unique vision of the piece of reality he's trying to represent or imitate. There are no 'real' artists and 'unreal' artists. There are just artists, craftsmen, and morons who think they're artists because it makes them feel good.
I'm also tempted to debate the point that an artist knows why he achieved an aesthetically pleasing result. Well, maybe in retrospect, given enough time... IMO in all the big artistic breakthroughs there's something I'll call the X factor: a combination of special circumstances which makes the artist do something unusual, to attempt something he's not attempted before. Note that 'special' here does not mean 'extraordinary'; it can be something as simple as a nagging toothache (as one art historian has it, the inspiration behind Munch's "The Scream").
Interesting thread, this. Spent two hours smoking and reading instead of playing TS3. Now, I have a question for everyone here: How do you feel about these two text strings from our favourite game: Write A Non-Fiction Novel and Write A Fiction Novel?
shelleyb:
??? I'm brand new to this particular "forum," but WOW!
For those in law enforcement, please note that CORRECTLY, any small punctuation mark goes INSIDE the close quotation mark. Large punctuation marks, such as ? or ! go on the outside. There is a very interesting reason why this is true and it has nothing to do with grammar. In the old days of typesetting, actual metal pieces were lined up to assemble a page of print. It just so happened that typesetters noticed when they placed a small punctuation mark tile OUTSIDE a close quotation tile, the rest of the line of type was slanted. However, when they placed the small tile INSIDE the close quotation tile, no slanting occured.
(And yes, it is true, occured can also be spelled occurred, but in today's proper grammar rules most of those redundant consonants are being dumped. I think the reason is that someone has figured out that a person's actual lifespan can be determined by how many syllables we use--errors such as irregardless and preventative--or the quantity of letters we use in writing during our lifetime and are teaching today's youth to JUST SAY NO. Any yes, it is also true that one can start a sentence with And or But if they know how to do it correctly. Enough of my rant and back to the lesson at hand, typesetting.)
The reason for the slanting type can be easily explained mathematically, but the typesetters didn't have time to sit around and speculate, like we obviously do--otherwise why the attraction to forums? Those old typesetters had to get a paper or periodical or penny dreadful printed and on the street or they would be out of a job. So, in closing to this particular topic, that is the reason small punctuation marks are placed inside a close quotation mark. Interesting . . . (The dots, by the way, are called an ellipsis. Two dashes placed one right after the other is still called a dash, it just places more emphasis on the break in the sentence.)
I haven't read through this whole thread--just the first and last pages--but wondered if a lesson on split infinitives or past participles has been provided. I have been out of school for quite a while, doing technical writing by the way, and find that I have trouble remembering the rules for lay, lay, and laid. Other interesting facts: (and use of a colon is the proper punctuation mark to use in this situation seeing that I am beginning a list, separated by semicolons) school-aged children today are being taught to use very few commas in their writing (see the above explanation about determining lifespan) but technical writers are encouraged to use many commas so that a reader knows where to stop and digest the technical information they have just consumed; no one in today's society has any clue when to use -ible and when to use -able; very few people know when to use its and when to use it's. Again, end rant.
Oops, one more thing to add. I think it is appalling that there is a law enforcement task force which is allowed to use vulgarities and abusive language. I may be inviting a nasty retort, or nobody reads this thread any more out of lack of interest. In either case, vilifying someone else by insinuating that they are unintelligent is worse, by far, than overlooking some inadvertent misspelled word or text-speak. If one can't understand the message someone is sending, a civilized person politely asks for clarification. Name-calling is juvenile and should be below the standards of someone whose purpose is to monitor the language used on this website. As you can clearly see by my signature line, you have hit a huge, throbbing nerve when you insult someone's cognitive abilities. I came here to get the "awesomemod" and thought I would check out some of the forums to see what kind of information is being presented. I was hoping for something better than what EA has to offer, but after reading a few entries on this thread, I may just satisfy myself with checking in periodically to see if any new updates to the mod are available.
If there is still any interest in this thread, I will look here a couple of times to see if there are any takers . . . (again, an ellipsis.) I would be most honored to hear back from the originator of the thread (did someone assign the job of GRAMMAR POLICE to this individual or was it an assumed task?), and especially gratified to hear from the originator of the actual website.
Follow Up: I have glanced over my missive and deleted most, not all, of the derogatory language directed at the grammarian (look it up, it's a valid word). However, I was in a negative emotional state when I wrote it and pounded it out very quickly. Some things you may notice are run-on sentences, verbosity, and continuous insults directed to those who are obviously not as erudite as they believe themselves to be. IF (and I emphasize if) anyone looks at this thread anymore and finds a misspelled word, I apologize in advance. That is the price you sometimes pay when adept with a keyboard. Otherwise, the editorial field would be significantly "downsized."
End of rant.
rohina:
Wow, the number of inaccuracies per word here is pretty high, considering how long the post is.
snowbawl:
Quote from: shelleyb on 2009 October 20, 17:10:32
Word Vomit
Oh go fuck a retard and call yourself a Good Samaritan. We do not care.
Here, you can have "{" as a parting gift. Thanks for playing!
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