Ayale-com.487 net.general utzoo!decvax!yale-com!glaser Fri May 7 04:32:37 1982 re:The English Language I'm as much in favor of properly used English as the next guy. However, I wish the author of "The English Language" would listen to his own words. Consider the following: "It really does not take much effort to write good English. Any of you capable of remembering half the syntax of 'C' are quite capable of remembering the basic rules of English grammar. . ." "Any . . . are?" In my copy of Strunk and White, any is a singular noun. It should be "Any . . . is." [not to mention the construction "half the syntax," which *really* ought to be "half of the syntax," if one is keeping score.] It is true that many technical people use the English language sloppily. In an informal setting such as USENET, however, content ought to be valued over form, timeliness over lengthy deliberation. I'd rather see a timely article with a few grammatical mistakes (as long as it is basically coherent) than the same piece, impeccably written but appearing days later. Another factor to keep in mind is that, judging from some of the submissions we receive over the net, the inews submission interface is not always conducive to perfection (not a slap at the news designers, just the incompetents, myself included, who make dumb mistakes). For instance, I messed up two earlier versions of this flame (one of which may have been sent, my apologies if it was) before (*pray*) finally getting things right. To the author of "The English Language": although your point, in moderation, is well taken, you might want to hold off on the stone throwing until you've refurbished your own glass house. Rob Glaser Yale University (decvax!yale-comix!glaser) ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.