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- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 34,029
Maria D|1453940281|3982653 said:Kenny, you are too smart to misunderstand this.
december-fire|1453935778|3982629 said:Kenny,
One could say you're splitting hairs (or something) here.![]()
december-fire|1453941560|3982665 said:december-fire|1453935778|3982629 said:Kenny,
One could say you're splitting hairs (or something) here.![]()
Kenny,
My earlier comment was a reference to the split infinitive.
I thought that was the point of your thread.
Was the split infinitive not deliberately done? The matter of split infinitives is a controversial issue, and you are known to initiate controversial threads.![]()
kenny|1453941968|3982670 said:december-fire|1453941560|3982665 said:december-fire|1453935778|3982629 said:Kenny,
One could say you're splitting hairs (or something) here.![]()
Kenny,
My earlier comment was a reference to the split infinitive.
I thought that was the point of your thread.
Was the split infinitive not deliberately done? The matter of split infinitives is a controversial issue, and you are known to initiate controversial threads.![]()
There is no 'point'.
This thread is what you see, nothing more.
On another forum someone wrote the second one, and it sounded wrong to me.
I know this person to have an IQ of a zillion and 8,757,496,854 Ph.Ds from the world's top unis so I just wondered which was correct.
december-fire|1453942557|3982675 said:Not to threadjack, but I often wonder about the writing and grammar skills of young people who are used to sending text messages. The word 'you' is simply 'u', etc., and punctuation is completely abandoned.
Many years ago, one of the local universities created a mandatory 'Effective Business Writing' course and 'Business Presentations' course for business students. This was in response to complaints from companies that university graduates were unable to present ideas in a clear, concise manner.
Reminds me of how calculators seem to have affected the ability of people to do basic math in their heads.
That being said, I don't lose sleep over split infinitives.
However, I wish people didn't seem so completely dependent on calculators for even basic math issues.
december-fire|1453945010|3982704 said:I just hope Kenny is enough of a gentleman to refrain from exhibiting a dangling participle!![]()
foxinsox|1453944154|3982693 said:In Latin the infinitive form is a single word so you can't split it.
december-fire|1453945010|3982704 said:The ‘rule’ against splitting infinitives isn’t followed as strictly today as it used to be. Nevertheless, some people do object very strongly to them. As a result, it’s safest to avoid split infinitives in formal writing, unless the alternative wording seems very clumsy or would alter the meaning of your sentence.
AGBF|1453945546|3982709 said:foxinsox|1453944154|3982693 said:In Latin the infinitive form is a single word so you can't split it.
I agree with MariaD. kenny knew he could have used "misunderstood" to better effect. But then we wouldn't have had this thread.![]()
I still hate split infinitives in English and I do not care who splits them; I will still continue to correct the sentences in my own mind. It is my equivalent of, "silent prayer". I also change every single incorrectly placed "like" to an "as" as I read silently. Unless the Thought Police get me, no one will ever be able to tell me that I cannot go around correcting split infinitives or that I must accept "like" when one should be using "as if". Because no one will catch me!
And it's a good thing that so many of the languages I have studied do have their infinitives forms in one word, like Latin, because no one then tries to split them: not Spanish; not French; not Italian; not even German. But the Germans put their verbs at the end of the sentences, so in case they decide to pull a fast one, one might miss it!
AGBF|1453945546|3982709 said:foxinsox|1453944154|3982693 said:In Latin the infinitive form is a single word so you can't split it.
I agree with MariaD. kenny knew he could have used "misunderstood" to better effect. But then we wouldn't have had this thread.![]()
I still hate split infinitives in English and I do not care who splits them; I will still continue to correct the sentences in my own mind. It is my own equivalent of, "silent prayer". I also change every single incorrectly placed "like" to an "as" as I read silently. Unless the Thought Police get me, no one will ever be able to tell me that I cannot go around correcting split infinitives or that I must accept "like" when one should be using "as if". Because no one will catch me!
And it's a good thing that so many of the languages I have studied do have their infinitives forms in one word, like Latin, because no one then tries to split them: not Spanish; not French; not Italian; not even German. But the Germans put their verbs at the end of the sentences, so in case they decide to pull a fast one, one might miss it!
jaysonsmom|1453946805|3982720 said:I chose the the second sentence without knowing the exact grammatical reasoning behind it. It just sounded righter to me.
kenny|1453945310|3982706 said:december-fire|1453945010|3982704 said:I just hope Kenny is enough of a gentleman to refrain from exhibiting a dangling participle!![]()
Well since I've entered my declining years dangling is more of a concern than it used to be.![]()
december-fire|1453947685|3982727 said:All this language talk reminded me of a former colleague who would say 'you's' to represent the plural of 'you'.
Someone told me creating a plural form of the word 'you' can be reflective of a certain geographic part of the country. I'm not sure if that's true, but found it interesting.