Cato's Grammar Grumble

Started by Cato, February 08, 2009, 05:00:18 PM

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Scarpia

#1120
March 17, 2010, 08:01:20 AM
Quote from: Joe Barron on March 17, 2010, 07:53:33 AMRedundancy and wordiness have their place and can be used to great rhetorical effect. Just look at Shakespeare.

Strunk and White's point is the redundancy and wordiness loose their rhetorical effect if every sentence is redundant and wordy.

Spotswood

#1121
March 17, 2010, 08:01:51 AM
Quote from: Scarpia on March 17, 2010, 08:01:20 AM
Strunk and White's point is the redundancy and wordiness loose their rhetorical effect if every sentence is redundant and wordy.

Yeah, but we knew that.

karlhenning

#1122
March 17, 2010, 08:03:29 AM
Quote from: Joe Barron on March 17, 2010, 07:53:33 AM
OTOH, modifiers like "very" and "extremely" exist for a reason, and there's no need to pretend they don't.

Verily, verily.

Quote from: Scarpia on March 17, 2010, 08:01:20 AM
Strunk and White's point is the redundancy and wordiness loose their rhetorical effect if every sentence is redundant and wordy.

They lose rhetorical effect, but they become the tone . . . look at minimalism.

Franco

#1124
March 17, 2010, 08:06:33 AM
Quote from: Joe Barron on March 17, 2010, 08:04:43 AM
Must we?

I'd rather look at it than listen to it.

DavidRoss

#1125
March 17, 2010, 08:06:54 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on March 17, 2010, 08:03:29 AMlook at minimalism.
A rose is a rose is a rose.
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Spotswood

#1126
March 17, 2010, 08:15:48 AM
Quote from: DavidRoss on March 17, 2010, 08:06:54 AM
A rose is a rose is a rose.

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?
Philip Glass

DavidRoss

#1127
March 17, 2010, 08:37:48 AM
Quote from: Joe Barron on March 17, 2010, 08:15:48 AMKnock knock ...
Who's there?

Knock knock ...
Who's there?

(repeat)

Philip Glass
Ah, yes...but Ms Stein's statement is the pithiest manual of style ever penned.
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Spotswood

#1128
March 17, 2010, 08:42:16 AM
Quote from: DavidRoss on March 17, 2010, 08:37:48 AM
Ah, yes...but Ms Stein's statement is the pithiest manual of style ever penned.

You should read James Thurber's essay on Stein.

DavidRoss

#1129
March 17, 2010, 09:04:58 AM
Quote from: Joe Barron on March 17, 2010, 08:42:16 AM
You should read James Thurber's essay on Stein.
I read it in college (back in the dark ages).  Stein, like many of us, was better the more she kept her mouth shut.  But her influence on 20th Century art was profound.  She might not have been all that gifted herself, but she sure could recognize it in others.
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

The Six

#1130
March 29, 2010, 10:48:50 AM
"...reaches a crescendo" is a pretty popular phrase now, but it seems that when people use it they're actually referring to a climax. Of course, the crescendo isn't the climax, it's the build to it.

Opus106

#1131
March 29, 2010, 11:04:48 AM
Quote from: The Six on March 29, 2010, 10:48:50 AM
"...reaches a crescendo" is a pretty popular phrase now, but it seems that when people use it they're actually referring to a climax. Of course, the crescendo isn't the climax, it's the build to it.

In a similar vein: Quantum leap; Light-years ahead.

Regards,
Navneeth

Cato

#1132
March 30, 2010, 04:29:30 PM Last Edit: March 30, 2010, 04:36:03 PM by Cato
Many thanks for the previous remarks above, especially the Glass joke!  Wocka Wocka!

Last night Blondie Bubblehead, Anchor Woman for a local station's opinion of what is news, regaled her audience about a local fire in an apartment building.

The cause?

"Fire Department officials said that unintended food was the cause."

I have suspected for years that food has the capability of bursting into flames if people buy it without the proper intention.

You do hear about all that food bought unintentionally, and then the food feels unwanted, rejected, and then becomes pyromaniacally mischievous?   0:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

The Six

#1133
April 06, 2010, 03:41:59 PM
Why can't people use apostrophe's correctly anymore?

listener

#1134
April 06, 2010, 04:03:12 PM Last Edit: April 06, 2010, 04:05:19 PM by listener
Quote from: The Six on April 06, 2010, 03:41:59 PM
Why can't people use apostrophe's (sic) correctly anymore?

Because critics are likely to use cant.

(does not make much sense, but I could not resist)
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

Sydney Grew

#1135
April 06, 2010, 04:48:56 PM
Quote from: The Six on April 06, 2010, 03:41:59 PM
Why can't people use apostrophe's correctly any[ ]more?
It is just one symptom of the widespread intellectual impoverishment of to-day - sometimes referred to as "dumbing down." We see it all around us do not we.
Rule 1: assiduously address the what not the whom! Rule 2: shun bad language! Rule 3: do not deviate! Rule 4: be as pleasant as you can!

Lethevich

#1136
April 11, 2010, 03:58:40 PM
Is there ever a reason to put a space before an exclamation or question mark at the end of a sentence? It seems common practice with a lot by Romance language writers on the internet (or at least, most times I see it done it is by an Italian/French/Spanish speaker)...

Example: "'O Sole Mio !"
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Papy Oli

#1137
April 12, 2010, 11:50:11 AM Last Edit: April 13, 2010, 12:47:49 PM by papy
Quote from: Lethe on April 11, 2010, 03:58:40 PM
Is there ever a reason to put a space before an exclamation or question mark at the end of a sentence? It seems common practice with a lot by Romance language writers on the internet (or at least, most times I see it done it is by an Italian/French/Spanish speaker)...

Example: "'O Sole Mio !"

Just did a quick search on the French side and that's only due to grammatical accepted "rules" of our language : basically, if it is a "single" mark (e.g. comma, point...), it is a single space afterwards. If it is a double mark (e.g. exclamation, question mark), you use a "double" space (one either side). Lots of fiddling about really for something that's done unconsciously  ;D





Olivier

Lethevich

#1138
April 13, 2010, 05:25:45 AM
Thank you!
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Cato

#1139
April 15, 2010, 05:20:23 PM
My local moronic television reporter, Blondie Bubblehead, recently intoned - complete with the phrase as a caption at the bottom of the screen - the following phrase:

"Coming up: Diffusing a dangerous situation!"

Why anyone would want to do that, rather than defusing it, is a mystery to me!   $:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)
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