111–119 of 119 posts
The "treating data as singular" one is interesting - "data" as a plural is actually one of my biggest pet peeves because I strongly suspect that realising that it is technically the plural of "datum" is the only reason people started using it like that. The actual concept it conveys is almost always not a plural: it's more like "sand" than "pebbles".
https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=collective+noun&...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was surprised when reading The Sense of Style by Pinker (not a book I would recommend incidentally) that the use of 'they' as a generic pronoun was still considered controversial. Pinker opts to alternate his chapters with he, then she, then he again – he explains this is to avoid the issue of having to otherwise use he/she type constructs. Had he used 'they', I would've never thought anything of it. Maybe it's a g…
Pinker is 68; it was extremely uncommon to use "they" for most of his life. I can completely understand it just sounds "wrong" to him, because it really is quite a radical shift to how the word was used (none of this "it's been in use since the 14th century" bollocks please; it fell out of use since well before Pinker was born – you would be unable to even understand English as spoken in the 14th century because it's…
Personally, 'they' singular has sounded natural to me my whole life. How much of that is generational and how much of it is regional variation would be interesting to know.
> PASSIVE VOICE: My first trip abroad is one I will always remember. This is the first time I've heard such a construction described as being in the passive voice by an authoritative source. Is it a mistake, or has the meaning of "passive voice" changed?
It's a mistake. The passive voice of the sentence "I will always remember my first trip abroad" is "My first strip abroad will always be remembered by me".
> PASSIVE VOICE: My first trip abroad is one I will always remember. This is the first time I've heard such a construction described as being in the passive voice by an authoritative source. Is it a mistake, or has the meaning of "passive voice" changed?
"My first trip abroad I will always remember."
I wish I understood what "wordiness" means. Perhaps it's restating the same simple point three times in as many loose sentences. People who harp on this point usually point to the writing of Hemingway and similar writers (Carver comes to mind). All of these men are better writers than I am, but I still prefer to read Nabokov. Could Nabokov have "made his point" in fewer words? Almost certainly, but I wouldn't have en…
In a non-fiction reference style document, neither repetition nor wordy descriptions have a place. Repetition in such a document always risks inconsistency, redundancy and breeds confusion for the reader. That's very much not good.
In a guide or educational material, repetition gains a function. If the document is supposed to teach, repetition from different point of view increases retention and anchors the new knowledge better, by placing it in more contexts. In a guide, repetition can act as beneficial redundancy - re-checks of work for example.
In a fictional work, it's a style of writing. Some modern authors for example vary the wordiness or terseness to signify the overall sense of alarm and pressure on the character. Like, if nothing is going on, they spend words on just showing how everything is good for the character at the moment - smells of the coffee, the sun with a light breeze, how you either smell the flower shop to the left or the spice shop to the right, how there's a dog running after a bee. It's a lot of words with very little progress, but that's how a peaceful sunday morning in a cafe is.
And once the dramatic action starts, they switch to a much terser style. Suddenly, only a few things matter. The weight of a weapon on arms, the recoil in a shoulder, cover, screams, the path to regroup.
This ends up being a matter of writing style and reading taste. For example, it was too much for me in some parts of Tolkiens works.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a mistake. The passive voice of the sentence "I will always remember my first trip abroad" is "My first strip abroad will always be remembered by me".
What is the proper term then for OP's construction? I note that both it and yours above introduce the verb "to be", though differently conjugated: "is" vs. "be".
PASSIVE VOICE: Thomas Jefferson’s support of the new Constitution was documented in a letter to James Madison. ACTIVE VOICE: Thomas Jefferson documented his support of the new Constitution in a letter to James Madison. IMO the passive voice makes much more sence for this example.
a letter sent to James Madison documented Thomas Jefferson’s support of the new Constitution. ?
documented
sent
letter
a
James Madison
to
Constitution
the
new
of
support
Thomas Jefferson's
I wish I understood what "wordiness" means. Perhaps it's restating the same simple point three times in as many loose sentences. People who harp on this point usually point to the writing of Hemingway and similar writers (Carver comes to mind). All of these men are better writers than I am, but I still prefer to read Nabokov. Could Nabokov have "made his point" in fewer words? Almost certainly, but I wouldn't have en…
Try reading a few pages of Marx's writing. It's unbearable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In British English data is a collective singular.
The whole British English thing of "companies are plural nouns" (e.g. "Apple are creating a VR headset") simultaneously makes so much sense from how companies actually are (vs the American English that treats the company as a singular individual) and sounds completely wrong to me lol
Here Centrica is regarded as a singular:
"It is the third time Centrica has upgraded its annual expectations this financial year,"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/12/british-gas...