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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!

12-19-2018 , 08:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louis Cyphre
There is no ablative in English, is there?
No. If I remember any Latin, the ablative case is for the objects of prepositions.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-19-2018 , 08:22 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Cole
Thanks for that link!
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 07:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Garick
I teach my students "just use whatever pronoun you would use if the other person weren't in the sentence," and they always look at me like it's a trick. "It can't be that simple," they seem to be thinking. "At any moment he's going to tell us about the exceptions."
How is it possible that they made it past 5th grade English without learning that? Is our education system that terrible now?? You'd think they'd have more time to teach this stuff now that they don't need to spend all the time we devoted to cursive and card catalogs.

How are our 19 year-olds all dunces when all of our 4 year-olds are all geniuses that can add, subtract, and read?
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 10:41 AM
They are STEM geniuses and humanities dunces.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 10:57 AM
I'm not sure it's a huge problem. We sometimes focus on these rather small mistakes as examples of the education system failing.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 03:52 PM
lol I didn't know ablative from my ass until I started teaching it. And I'm a writer. the vast majority of people write like crap, college students included. My job is to make them better.

And to the guy who said it must be a horrible job, no. It's a wonderful job. Grading papers can be frustrating, yes...but in the class room? I have a blast. The kids are amazing, whether or not they are good at writing.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 04:35 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
lol I didn't know ablative from my ass until I started teaching it. And I'm a writer. the vast majority of people write like crap, college students included. My job is to make them better.

And to the guy who said it must be a horrible job, no. It's a wonderful job. Grading papers can be frustrating, yes...but in the class room? I have a blast. The kids are amazing, whether or not they are good at writing.
Dom, that's the spirit. I always had a blast too. And I always had some fine writers, much better than I.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 11:24 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Cole
Dom, that's the spirit. I always had a blast too. And I always had some fine writers, much better than I.
Yeah, I missed it so much after I retired that I now teach 2 6-week terms in the summer. (Given that I'm in Toronto, that's much better than being tied down in the winter.) And post-retirement, I have no administrative duties--which I regarded as much more a pain in the ass than marking essays.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-20-2018 , 11:35 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by RussellinToronto
Yeah, I missed it so much after I retired that I now teach 2 6-week terms in the summer. (Given that I'm in Toronto, that's much better than being tied down in the winter.) And post-retirement, I have no administrative duties--which I regarded as much more a pain in the ass than marking essays.
I'm looking forward to that day myself. The past seven years spent as department chair and dean have been, I realize now, exhausting. I hope I can retire by next year and teach part time.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-21-2018 , 12:14 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
l It's a wonderful job. Grading papers can be frustrating, yes...but in the class room? I have a blast. The kids are amazing, whether or not they are good at writing.
Nice. I only ran into a handful of dick professors and I butted heads with them. Neither side won.

One thing I noticed in undergrad was people rushing through the paper and not proofreading it at all before turning it in. Hopefully if you are giving them a second chance, they can prove they aren't full on ******s.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-21-2018 , 02:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by txdome
Nice. I only ran into a handful of dick professors and I butted heads with them. Neither side won.

One thing I noticed in undergrad was people rushing through the paper and not proofreading it at all before turning it in. Hopefully if you are giving them a second chance, they can prove they aren't full on ******s.
You wouldn't fare well with me. Your last sentence is incoherent and contains offensive language. I would give you a second chance, though.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-21-2018 , 03:55 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Cole
I'm looking forward to that day myself. The past seven years spent as department chair and dean have been, I realize now, exhausting. I hope I can retire by next year and teach part time.
The great thing about retiring is that you can finally do the kind of reading you imagined you would doing as part of the profession!
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 12:36 AM
Okay, this sentence is driving me crazy:

Should it be:

"More than one QB from this class is allowed to be good."

OR

"More than one QB from this class are allowed to be good."

Even my PhD Professor/professional writer GF is confused.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 12:43 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dominic
Okay, this sentence is driving me crazy:

Should it be:

"More than one QB from this class is allowed to be good."

OR

"More than one QB from this class are allowed to be good."

Even my PhD Professor/professional writer GF is confused.
Should be the first since according to what I looked up "more than one" is followed by singular noun.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 12:55 AM
I'm going with the first, version. If you take away all the fluff:

One QB is allowed to be good.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 01:15 AM
The initialism "QB" is making it sound less weird because it's somewhat concealing the singular nature of the noun. Try this: "More than one quarterback from this class are allowed to be good". If that sounds reasonable to you, then I'm sorry to tell you that your brain has been damaged from reading too many freshman essays. I'm sure the damage is reversible.

"More than one" can take singular or plural verbs, the rule is simply that the verb must always agree with the noun. So "More than one applicant is qualified" but "More than one of these applicants are qualified".
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 02:03 AM
lol that's what I thought!

Thanks. I was too lazy to look it up. Maybe those Freshman essays ARE getting to me.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 01:17 PM
Grunch:. It should be "one IS allowed." "More than" is an adjective modifying "one." ImO, the verb should therefore be conjugated in third-person singular to reflect that one is a singular noun.

Ok, off to read the other responses...

Post grunch edit:ChrisV is correct. The subject is QB, not one. More than one is an adjective modifying QB, which is singular.

Last edited by Garick; 12-26-2018 at 01:25 PM.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 02:07 PM
Further muddying things is the fact that "more" can be a subject by itself, as in something like "While only one QB is a guaranteed first-rounder, more are likely to succeed in the league."

So even using daveT's advice to take out the fluff, you can just as easily decide that means keeping "More are allowed to be good." This is definitely the kind of sentence I'd go back and forth with 5 times and hate whatever I finally decided on.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 02:36 PM
More than this there is nothing. "Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode!
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 05:51 PM
Best Roxy song.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-26-2018 , 06:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by GMan42
Further muddying things is the fact that "more" can be a subject by itself, as in something like "While only one QB is a guaranteed first-rounder, more are likely to succeed in the league."

So even using daveT's advice to take out the fluff, you can just as easily decide that means keeping "More are allowed to be good." This is definitely the kind of sentence I'd go back and forth with 5 times and hate whatever I finally decided on.
As originally written, "more" can't be the subject of the sentence. The only possible subject is quarterback (QB) - singular as already noted.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-27-2018 , 12:30 AM
As originally written in Dominic's post you mean (not mine)? Agreed, I'm just kind of expounding on where the confusion lies.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-27-2018 , 11:13 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by GMan42
As originally written in Dominic's post you mean (not mine)? Agreed, I'm just kind of expounding on where the confusion lies.
Understood.
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote
12-29-2018 , 06:17 AM
How should the following sentence be properly punctuated?

"When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions -- eclipsed by glory."

the awareness of afflictions having been eclipsed by glory

Last edited by Schlitz mmmm; 12-29-2018 at 06:22 AM. Reason: colon? literally no clue. maybe nothing goes there
"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! Quote

      
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