tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post1105839780266713901..comments2024-02-19T07:51:46.118-05:00Comments on Throw Grammar from the Train: Eager peeversJanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173219179480606941noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-4338017238572090182013-04-17T09:19:16.836-04:002013-04-17T09:19:16.836-04:00There are no two ways that India is the world lead...There are no two ways that India is the world leader in attracting patients from across the borders for medical treatment in India like <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/eye-surgery/eye-treatment-india.html" rel="nofollow">Eye surgery in India</a>, <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/heart-surgery/robotic-heart-bypass-cabg-surgery-india.html" rel="nofollow">Heart surgery in India</a>, <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/ivf/ivf-treatment-india.html" rel="nofollow">IVF India</a>, <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/eye-surgery-india.html" rel="nofollow">best eye surgeon in india</a>, <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/fortis-hospital-delhi/hotels-guest-houses-nearby.htm" rel="nofollow">Fortis hospital delhi</a>, <a href="http://www.indiahospitaltour.com/patient-testimonial/cochlear-implant-patient-experience-india.htm" rel="nofollow">cochlear implant surgery in india</a>, brain surgery at best hospitals in India.We Care Indiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09179701895145578610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-75467761389360356792013-03-31T22:10:46.608-04:002013-03-31T22:10:46.608-04:00He wrote "Here is a writer, a fellow newspape...He wrote "Here is a writer, a fellow newspaperman, who is as hardened a cultural tory as I. "emptyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04513102801380602436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-80500209771093057602013-03-28T09:20:46.289-04:002013-03-28T09:20:46.289-04:00It's curious that someone with so many grammat...It's curious that someone with so many grammatical peeves would write "as hardened a cultural tory as <i>I</i>" rather than "as hardened a cultural tory as <i>me</i>."Glenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05928998141185609992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-75181244756346634082013-03-21T07:28:38.498-04:002013-03-21T07:28:38.498-04:00I hold what seems to be a minority opinion in that...I hold what seems to be a minority opinion in that I am unimpressed by Oh Writing Well. I first read it about ten years ago, in an edition released for the new millennium. It struck me as badly dated, borderline incoherent, and not very well written.<br /><br />The first problem is that it isn't really about how to write well in any general sense. It has some good advice on writing undergraduate essays and articles for the sort of general interest magazine that mostly doesn't exist any more. When Zinsser sticks to this he mostly does fine, but he often forgets himself. So we get on the one hand the advice that a good work has exactly one important idea. Then elsewhere we get the passing opinion that the Bible is a good work. I have wondered ever since what its one (and only one) important idea is. <br /><br />The edition I read claimed to be updated for the new century, but I was repeatedly referred to writers from before I was born, and I am not particularly young. This would be fine if this was the sort of works which I as an educated person should know, but the actual works cited tended toward topical issues of the day magazine writing. This supposedly updated edition was actually an example of glaring laziness.<br /><br />Then, of course, the chapter on grammar is deeply regretable. It looks like a collection of language peeves from about a half century ago, because this is exactly what it is.<br /><br />I think the book's good reputation comes from its strength with undergraduate essays. Persons condemned to read undergraduate essays recommend the book, and for that narrow purpose and for the right undergraduate this can even be good advice. But in any general sense, it is not a good book on its purported topic.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13031963938581497850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-43813448061439556632013-03-16T11:46:42.148-04:002013-03-16T11:46:42.148-04:00I LOVE the expression "snail-mail". I d...I LOVE the expression "snail-mail". I don't think it is at all pejorative; just shows that the mail is not electronic and instant, it is slow and real...cucarachahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15670159176178952806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-82480546268411003712013-03-15T05:12:04.530-04:002013-03-15T05:12:04.530-04:00On Writing Well is an excellent guide with a great...<i>On Writing Well</i> is an excellent guide with a great deal of sound and insightful advice. But not all of its suggestions are created equally, and peeve-weary readers may reflexively roll their eyes on occasion.<br />I read Zinsser's <i>American Scholar</i> column (and mentioned it on my blog when he started it). I enjoyed it for the most part; he's a careful and lucid writer, which makes disagreeing with him less disagreeable.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03386875624025404452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-69845050941266136662013-03-15T01:54:04.008-04:002013-03-15T01:54:04.008-04:00I actually got a copy of On Writing Well from my m...I actually got a copy of <i>On Writing Well</i> from my mother as a birthday gift when I was a kid. The book is one of those things that's deeply embedded in my mind and my habits. It's like a nagging voice that surfaces from time to time.<br /> Bryan Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607046468663026271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-45595065402006188452013-03-14T20:41:56.604-04:002013-03-14T20:41:56.604-04:00"Let's do it, let's have a relationsh..."Let's do it, let's have a relationship" does lack a certain something one would want to find in a love song, but the folk singers of the late 50s and early 60s would have loved it. <br />The term seems to have been given its apparent validity by Facebook. I've noticed one of my nephews is "in a relationship" with the mother of his child, and it certainly does seem to be a closer relationship than the one he has with his elderly aunt.<br />I'll save my kvetching for people my age who know better, but who nevertheless use the ridiculous "send it to my wife and I" as did my brother (father of the abovementioned nephew) in an e-mail to me recently. He received in return a verbal lambasting, because he never would have said such a thing 30 or even 20 years ago.<br />I've been told I'm fighting against the legitimate evolution of the English language, but I beg to differ. Some evolutionary paths lead to dead ends, like the dodo bird.<br />K<br /> Kay L. Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09966266404058177742noreply@blogger.com