"Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!"
Or just "omit needless words!"
You obviously shouldn't omit words if they're needed, so surely we can go all the way to "Omit words!"
The Elements of Style [pdf]
51–60 of 64 posts
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#52Nothing but a pile of linguistic ignorance and the authors’ weird peeves. See http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf
I was expecting something a bit more comprehensive and damning after the link… but if one of the most objectionable and controversial claims in the book is about adverbs modifying “unique” I think I’ll continue to recommend elements of style.
I still remember my high school in the teacher hyper-correcting my correct use of "unique".
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#53Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#54Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for this. Even if some don't agree with this, it does in my opinion show that it can be rather silly to treat any style guide as authorative. Especially an old one, in a world where there are considered to be multiple types of English. A bit of a rant maybe, but this stems from having wasted hours on a discussion on whether or not a comma is mandatory after a certain construct, and 'Elements of Style' was bein…
> On that subject: as a non-native speaker I always wondered if there actually is a grammar (not syle) guide which is considered authorative, as there is for other languages? No living language has a fully authoritative grammar book, as the grammar of living languages is discovered, not prescribed. That's a part of what linguists do, after all, and they have plenty of debates over precisely how to do it. The overly-s…
Extra appropriate to this thread, given one of the authors.
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#56Nothing but a pile of linguistic ignorance and the authors’ weird peeves. See http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf
I came here to link to Pullum. Most of the specific rules were nonsense: among vs. between, passive voice dogmatism, etc. Unfortunately, these things have become shibboleths that indicate membership in a particular class of people. If you used among vs. between "wrong" in high school or college, there's a good chance that your teacher corrected you, so now most of the educated elite believes the rule to be "right". B…
While we're at it, join me in pronouncing it like "sibboleth" (or "sibbolet")?
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I struggle mightily with "on"/"in". It's a funny thing; English native speakers will tell you that there are rules: "in" is for "inside" and "on" is for "on the surface", as simple as that. But almost every use I can think of is ambiguous. Is that smile in your face or on your face? Are you sleeping in your bed, because your mattress closes over you like the insides of a bag, or on your bed, because it's just a woode…
It is complicated, and many people speak English differently (generally more casually) than they write it (or should write it if they're concerned with rules). As for prepositions and sleeping, I sleep in bed, on a mattress, between the sheets. ;-)
Thanks!
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a French native, born and living in France, I can guarantee you that "a fully authoritative grammar book" backed by a public institution can be a think. Really, here even orthographic errors is supposed to be deemed as a "fault" for which you should feel very ashamed. All that with a large set of inconsistent rules, all having exceptions.
All that is is a style guide for government publications. It's not binding on anyone else, and certainly is not representative of how French people really speak or write.
Of course it's not representative of how French people speak, write, or think. It does influence all aspects of their life wherever they have verbal interactions with some institution, and all the side effect it can permeate to.
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a French native, born and living in France, I can guarantee you that "a fully authoritative grammar book" backed by a public institution can be a think. Really, here even orthographic errors is supposed to be deemed as a "fault" for which you should feel very ashamed. All that with a large set of inconsistent rules, all having exceptions.
The fact some finger-wagging body in France thinks it can sweep out the tide doesn't mean it's capable of any such thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_tide
Interesting links, thanks.
Yes, we agree, but those pretending they can when they are backed by governmental powers can go pretty far in term of influence.
Re: The Elements of Style [pdf]
#60Nothing but a pile of linguistic ignorance and the authors’ weird peeves. See http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/LandOfTheFree.pdf
Thank you.