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"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! "Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode!

09-26-2011 , 03:29 PM
More insulting than the typo is the implication that I need official notice that taking **** that doesn't belong to me without paying for it is a crime.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-28-2011 , 06:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by cicakman
how good is your swedish, jackass?
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 11:31 AM
The comments below this dictionary entry are hilarious:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless

I'm going to start using "irregardless" as often as possible and then see if people want to bet me that it isn't a word.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 12:14 PM
Irregardless is the word that stupid people bring up when they want to join in a grammar nit convo.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 05:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clare Quilty
Irregardless is the word that stupid people bring up when they want to join in a grammar nit convo.
Exactly, which is why it would be fun to pwn them by taking away the only weapon they've learned.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 05:56 PM
Yeah that would effect total ownage.

---

Do you prefer the comma in the second sentence of the 2nd paragraph?



---

Quote:
Originally Posted by ToTheInternet
20. Significant improvement. Laughs and smiles: five, compared to last week's two. Cringes: one, compared to last week's near perpetual cringe. Spencer was pretty funny.

The silliness has become more coherent and plausible. The three guys have become more distinct--less of a homogenous mass of stereotypical twenty-something jock--and consequently, rounder; although there's still room for improvement in terms of roundness.

They're attempting to derive humor in part through the off-kilter nature of characters' behavior. But you'll notice that while the major characters of shows such as Arrested Development and The Office often have highly specific quirks, New Girl characters' quirks seem generic. It's as if the execs said, "I want quirky and silly," and no one bothered delving too much into specifics. That's a recipe for cliched characterization.

The plots and situations need more urgency and tension. It didn't make me care about whether the characters succeeded or not. That's not good for a show that has for me an adjusted-laughs-per-twenty-minutes factor of only 4.1 Even the most silly of successful comedies cogently dramatize what viewers need to feel invested in the outcome, i.e., that the characters not achieving their goal would really suck for them. Here, I didn't feel that.

Also there needs to be a bit more seriousness--silliness is more effective when set in contrast with seriousness.

With that being said, I give this episode a 3*/5. That is admittedly quite high, given the excoriation above, which would doom most sitcoms to a grade no higher than 2.28*/5. But the Zooey factor improves my enjoyment of the show and thus skews the ranking upward.

1 (That's not a low factor. But all else being equal, you'd need a high factor to support a comedy whose events generate zero tension.)
**** you, you monocle-wearing ****erdick. (Self-castigation for pretentiousness.) I need to read more Alice Munro or something.

Last edited by ToTheInternet; 09-29-2011 at 06:07 PM.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 07:07 PM
Dear OOT,

It seems that using "begs the question" to mean "raises the question" is now ubiquitous even by writers I respect. Should I give in and go with the flow on this one? I will abide by your decision.

Dazed and Confused in the Midwest
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 07:18 PM
Why should you? There will always be those who will see it as an error and, if not necessarily looking down on you for it (though some will), be distracted by it and therefore less likely to get whatever message you're attempting to communicate.

Meanwhile, there's no reason to do it. The phrase, misused, does not convey meaning better than easily-available alternatives, including the most straightforward, "raises the question".

In other words, by giving in in your own writing and speech you'll be alienating at least some readers and listeners, while gaining exactly nothing in return.


Edit: "always" was too strong. But for the foreseeable future some will consider it an error, and that's sufficient to prove my point.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 08:08 PM
Thanks for the response. I definitely won't start using it myself, but it's so common I will try not to let it irk me anymore.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-29-2011 , 08:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToTheInternet

Do you prefer the comma in the second sentence of the 2nd paragraph?
No.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-30-2011 , 07:45 PM
"Alright" is a word. Girl in the video is wrong.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
09-30-2011 , 08:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brocktoon
"Alright" is a word. Girl in the video is wrong.
You are correct. But it is considered nonstandard by many dictionaries.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-01-2011 , 12:34 AM
Just about any collection of letters one sees often enough to raise someone's dander "is" a word in some sense, and for most there's some dictionary you can find, maybe a lot of them, that will list it. As has been mentioned in this thread numerous times, most dictionaries (and all good ones) are descriptive, not prescriptive.

But that something "is" a word, be it "irregardless" or "alright" or "alot" or an oral "nucular" or whatever else, doesn't mean one should write it, speak it... or even accept it.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-01-2011 , 12:50 AM
^ That's a cromulent point.

Quote:
Originally Posted by private joker
No.
Cool that's what I thought. I saw it like fifty kagillion times in the past few weeks.

Last edited by ToTheInternet; 10-01-2011 at 12:55 AM.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 12:52 AM
Bleacher Report must not have standards.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 01:16 AM
It appears to have standards; bad ones.

Last edited by atakdog; 10-06-2011 at 01:17 AM. Reason: before pointing out that I just made an error, read the article
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 01:19 AM
As I look more closely I get more an more impressed. He managed to make at least one error in almost every sentence. And more specifically, solid majority of the sentences feature punctuation errors. Cool.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 04:22 AM
Sometimes, this thread makes me feel better; but mostly, it just makes me feel sad.

Last edited by DockDD; 10-06-2011 at 04:23 AM. Reason: is that semicolon ok? ****, now I'm just sad regardless
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 04:57 AM
You can use the semicolon but if you do, you shouldn't also use the but.

These are correct:
  • Sometimes this thread makes me feel better; mostly, it just makes me feel sad.
  • Sometimes this thread makes me feel better, but mostly it just makes me feel sad.
A semicolon separates two clauses of equal logical importance, which is what you arguably have here. When it is used in this way the second clause is not introduced by a coordinating conjunction. Think of it as if the semicolon were a period, except that it's a period that links the two sentences because they are very closely related in content.

I prefer the second version, without the semicolon, because in your case you do want to emphasize the contrast so the but really is part of what you want to say.

[There are other uses but what I've described is the most common.]

Last edited by atakdog; 10-06-2011 at 05:05 AM.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 05:20 AM
That's a good point;
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 10:24 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToTheInternet
Bleacher Report must not have standards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BleacherReport
The reality is, sad though it may be, is that a great percentage...
I'm sick of hearing the "double-is" all the time, but I hadn't seen it written before. Kudos to this guy for getting it out in the open.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 10:45 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by DockDD
Sometimes, this thread makes me feel better; but mostly, it just makes me feel sad.
It's a thread about complaining, full of nits.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 10:53 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by atakdog
You can use the semicolon but if you do, you shouldn't also use the but.

These are correct:
  • Sometimes this thread makes me feel better; mostly, it just makes me feel sad.
  • Sometimes this thread makes me feel better, but mostly it just makes me feel sad.
A semicolon separates two clauses of equal logical importance, which is what you arguably have here. When it is used in this way the second clause is not introduced by a coordinating conjunction. Think of it as if the semicolon were a period, except that it's a period that links the two sentences because they are very closely related in content.

I prefer the second version, without the semicolon, because in your case you do want to emphasize the contrast so the but really is part of what you want to say.

[There are other uses but what I've described is the most common.]
This is not exactly a disagreement but a small picking of nits. Despite the prejudice against beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions, it is fine to do so (and many good stylists frequently do). Thus it would be ok to write:
  • Sometimes this thread makes me feel better. But mostly it just makes me feel sad.
That provides a certain emphasis on the second statement -- as if it was being uttered after a pause for thought -- that would otherwise be lacking.

What follows is that a semicolon could sometimes be used after "but" as another way of achieving that effect.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
10-06-2011 , 10:58 AM
Posted in Steve Jobs thread:

"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote

      
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