'gifts'.

You're assuming this writer wasn't clever enough to do that on purpose. It would probably have to get by at least two people to get written and printed on a sign, so my guess is deliberate.

This joke could even go a couple levels deep, if the writer wanted people to think it was inadvertent when it wasn't, playing on the prejudice that some Obama haters might tend to be ignorant hicks (driver could even be an Obama supporter).

Or maybe it is actually 3 levels deep...

"When comforting a grammar nazi,"

IMO

also "softly say" reads better imo

Out, out, damn adverb.

It's dangerously close to being a Tom Swifty.

It's nowhere near IMO. I have issues with the fight against adverbs.

This has probably been covered somewhere in this thread, but I HATE when people say something like "everybody can't get to bed by 11" when they clearly mean "not everyone can get to bed by 11."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17762034

From the comments:

"I quick glance at the comments here reveals that at least 50% of the people complaining about other people's bad English have made mistakes themselves."

"There is no excuse for commencing a sentence or a paragraph with the word *And*"

lol. So that commenter wanted to point out not to start a sentence with the word "And," but that wasn't enough! He/ She also wanted to point out that you shouldn't start a paragraph with it... you know, for all of those paragraphs that don't start with a sentence!

P.S. Dumb rule anyway.

The overblown title makes me imagine something like this:

I'm pretty sure it was discussed before in this thread, but it's a "rule" that virtually all professional writers ignore. I don't even think it's in the style guides anymore (Strunk & White always permitted it). Conjunctions can work just fine at the beginning of sentences if done right.

And those comments were the 'editor's picks'. Perhaps it was his sense of humour.

I think the sign fits in perfectly with the merchandise.

Heard just this morning on a flight from JFK to DCA. This might very well be grammatically correct, but it tilts me:

How about: "Please turn off your electronic devices." First, I hate the "we do ask" phrase, instead of just asking. And when did turning things off becoming powering them down?


[Apologies. Probably not appropriate to this thread. Just had to post it.]

[QUOTE=W0X0F;32776626]How about: "Please turn off your electronic devices." [QUOTE]

I've been on flights that use plain language like this. You're right, the other is so awkward.

'Powered down to the off position' is totally ******ed (conceptually).

'We do + infinitive' is perfectly fine, and used for emphasis.

But I also agree it's badly worded.

Can anybody tell me if the following use of the word myself is acceptable?

"Who was the team leader this week?"

"That was myself"

Why myself and not me?

FYP*

ETA: http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/myself.html

Got one to run by y'all - here's a mission statement for a fake University:

"Our aim is to provide our students, regionally, nationally and internationally, with the highest possibly quality of education, whilst maintaining our reputation for research and ensuring that our staff have every opportunity for development"

Besides having such a long single sentence, I was most interested in people's opinions about the first clause. I think it can be read two ways:

1) to provide for students from the region, nation and across nations
2) to provide in different areas within the region, nation and international areas.

i.e. do they aim to have have different types of students, or different campuses across the world?

Interested to see what people think - I think they are aiming for interpretation 1 but I think "regionally..." are adverbs modifying the infinitive "to provide", so they have hit interpretation 2 by accident.

Other comments on this blarney statement welcome!

P

They mean #1. I think all three are mistakes and should be adjectives modifying students. Regional, national, and international students.

"Our aim is to provide our students -- regional, national, and international -- with the highest possible..."

You can't provide the education internationally unless you have a campus in different countries.