Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Cato]

Well, all the clams that have been chowdered are certainly only shells of their former self!

They must have been Yale clams!   

Chowderization would never happen to Hahvahd clams!

And what were Yale clams doing in Massachusetts?!

[The Six]

Summary:Financial risk as an objective existence's risk that is the enterprise have to face to the realistic question in the course of management through finance.If the enterprise want to be victorious under increasingly fierce market competition situation that the financial risk prevent and control seems more and more important to it.From the corporation financial risk,this paper analyzes the present situation of enterprise financial risk as well as the reasons.In the end,the paper also puts forward the corporation financial risk prevention measures.

This is the kind of stuff I face in correcting papers from people learning English as a second language.

[Cato]

This is the kind of stuff I face in correcting papers from people learning English as a second language.

You should see the sentences from supposedly native-born American 7th and 8th Graders.  I have lost count how many times I have asked certain of my students, after I have read their sentences aloud to them: "Does that make sense?"  (And it doesn't!)

The scariest part comes when they shrug!   0:)

[Mookalafalas]

This is the kind of stuff I face in correcting papers from people learning English as a second language.

  Me too.  I teach ESL in Taiwan, and moonlight as a proofreader.  That example is the hardest kind to correct--you actually can figure out what they are trying to say. They are trying a high-brow approach, but it's beyond them, so to "fix" it you literally have to rewrite the whole sentence--translating it from sort-of-English to English.  When I taught in Korea it was often just word salad. I had no idea what they were trying to say. My students here in Taiwan haven't been exposed to academeze, so they write simple sentences with simple (although frequent and egregious) errors.  Unfortunately, they have no reasoning skills whatsoever

[Cato]

From the Brian Ferneyhough "Plough" comes a blurb for the promotion of a CD with the composer's string quartets:

From the website for the new Arditti CD:

On the occasion of its 40th anniversary (1974-2014), the Arditti Quartet, one of the most famous groups in contemporary music, has chosen to record, for the second time — and this is an occurrence sufficiently rare that it bears emphasizing —, the complete string quartets of Brian Ferneyhough. The pieces on these discs immediately weave an auditory spell and well illustrate this composer's brand of complexity, i.e., writing reputed to be unplayable for the instrumentalists but providing a definite pleasure for the listener, caught up in the headiness of a universe without limits or vanishing point.

(My emphasis above.)

So what say ye, Fellow Grumblers?  Do you understand the paragraph to mean that the "writing" is what is "caught up" - or is it the "listener" who is "caught up" - in that heady universe?

The comma would I believe throw the reference back to the "writing."  Is it possible they mean the listener is sent into that universe by the music?

[mahler10th]

From the Brian Ferneyhough "Plough" comes a blurb for the promotion of a CD with the composer's string quartets:

From the website for the new Arditti CD:

(My emphasis above.)

So what say ye, Fellow Grumblers?  Do you understand the paragraph to mean that the "writing" is what is "caught up" - or is it the "listener" who is "caught up" - in that heady universe?

The comma would I believe throw the reference back to the "writing."  Is it possible they mean the listener is sent into that universe by the music?

That is dreadful.  The blurb writer clearly has his own Universes in collision.  His appraisal is badly written, badly punctuated, incomprehensible and nto vyre godo at lal.  What serious Arditti Qtt listener is interested in woven auditory spells?  The writers paragraph does well to illustrate his brand of complexity...

Thanks for posting that Leo, that kind of thing gets my goat up no edn.   

[North Star]

Hmm, maybe it's referring to text before the first comma, i.e. ...illustrate this composer's brand of complexity caught up in the headiness of a universe without limits or vanishing point.

The first sentence isn't a lesser monstrosity, sporting more commas than there are in the Bodleian:

On the occasion of its 40th anniversary (1974-2014), the Arditti Quartet, one of the most famous groups in contemporary music, has chosen to record, for the second time — and this is an occurrence sufficiently rare that it bears emphasizing —, the complete string quartets of Brian Ferneyhough.

I'd say that the writer was caught up in the headiness of their limitless pomposity.

Perhaps the treasures from this thread should be compiled in a Grammar Grumble book..

[Cato]

That is dreadful.  The blurb writer clearly has his own Universes in Collision*.  His appraisal is badly written, badly punctuated, incomprehensible and nto vyre godo at lal.  What serious Arditti Qtt listener is interested in woven auditory spells?  The writers paragraph does well to illustrate his brand of complexity...

Thanks for posting that Leo, that kind of thing gets my goat up no edn.   

Heh-heh!  Sometimes the advertising people do go overboard... or the writer is just really enthusiastic about Ferneyhough String Quartets!

* Inside joke: thanks, Scots John!   0:)

Hmm, maybe it's referring to text before the first comma, i.e. ...illustrate this composer's brand of complexity caught up in the headiness of a universe without limits or vanishing point.

The first sentence isn't a lesser monstrosity, sporting more commas than there are in the Bodleian:
I'd say that the writer was caught up in the headiness of their limitless pomposity.

Perhaps the treasures from this thread should be compiled in a Grammar Grumble book..

I never thought the Grammar Grumble would reach this many pages: is it the nature of our era to be ungrammatical?   0:)

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

I'd say that the writer was caught up in the headiness of their limitless pomposity.

I agree with North Star (as I always do) - the truly sad aspect of this is that I would bet the writer actually knew better but was "caught up..." in his own wordy web as North Star says.  The Arditti Q. deserves better.

[North Star]

I never thought the Grammar Grumble would reach this many pages: is it the nature of our era to be ungrammatical?   0:)

'Tis the nature of our era that everything anybody writes will be preserved on the Internet. And despite of the abundance of it, information is valued more than ever, at the cost of knowledge and wisdom.
Democracy and equality seem to exist more and more where it ought not, and vice versa.

I agree with North Star (as I always do).

[aquablob]

I think it's supposed to be the listener that is "caught up..."—grammatically it's ambiguous, though.

[Cato]

Through a tangent, I came across a reference to a "film-trailer composer" named Chris Field.

From Wikipedia I found this curious statement"

"He learned how to compose music by in-putting compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Prokofiev into the computer."

How curious! And not just the "in-putting...into" !!!   

[kishnevi]

As reposted by someone on Facebook,  originally from a Twitterfeed,  some journalism from the Times.

Not the New York one, but the original one, the paper of papers, the Times of London.

[North Star]

Our MPs are just as bad.

[Jay F]

As reposted by someone on Facebook,  originally from a Twitterfeed,  some journalism from the Times.

Not the New York one, but the original one, the paper of papers, the Times of London.

What is this error called? I see it so frequently nowadays, but I don't remember what it's called.

[Karl Henning]

Misplaced modifier, IIRC.

[Jay F]

Misplaced modifier, IIRC.

Thanks, Karl. That's what I thought.

[douglasofdorset]

As reposted by someone on Facebook,  originally from a Twitterfeed,  some journalism from the Times.

Not the New York one, but the original one, the paper of papers, the Times of London.

I think it is intended to be humorous, but I would have to see the context to be sure.

[Cato]

I think it is intended to be humorous, but I would have to see the context to be sure.

Almost too good, so yes, probably an error on purpose! 

[Ken B]

Almost too good, so yes, probably an error on purpose! 

It is certainly deliberate, and droll. Notice the period on the middle. There is no way to rearrange either sentence alone to "unmisplace the modifier", hence there is no misplaced modifier. Aside from that no paper in un-PC enough to describe Vikings so.