SI Grammar and Spelling Lab Message Board

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next

To: Jack Clarke who wrote (17)	1/2/1998 9:45:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) of 4710

Boy, this thread has exploded since I took a much-needed vacation from anything and everything related to the stock market! I couldn't agree more that any living language is in a state of constant change. My own undergraduate degree was in linguistics. A loose rule of thumb for linguists is that if more than 50% of the educated population uses a particular construction, that construction should be considered "correct." Hence, I'm with you on the "it's me" ("c'est moi") construction. Even to "educated" ears, the "it's I" construction sounds stilted, even phony. So, out with it! Another point raised by another poster: the split infinitive. It's perfectly all right to split an infinitive! Somewhere recently I read the history of the origin of the ban on the split infinitive. Unfortunately, I can't remember the source. Suffice it to say that the "rule" was dreamt up by a deluded pedant, and can be ignored with impunity. The same thing applies to the "rule" about not ending a sentence with a preposition. I think Winston Churchill definitively buried it with his immortal line: "This is a rule up with which I will not put."

Report TOU Violation

Share This Post

Public Reply Prvt Reply Mark as Last Read File

Previous 10 Next 10 Previous Next