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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Janice Shell who wrote (26)	1/1/1998 4:08:00 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4710

Hey, Janice!!! Where have I heard that complaint before??? My children were raised to say, "It is I," and "This is he," when answering the phone. They know they sound weird, but they also know they are correct and choose to continue. I thought Jack had an interesting point about c'est moi, although I don't particularly want to use the French as my linguistic role models; they're too damn arrogant already. Plus, they only have 100,000 words in common use, as opposed to our rich English language, which boasts half a million. I have stopped using the word "forte", referring to a quality in which someone excels, because I pronounce it with the preferred 'fort' and not 'for-tay' and I'm tired of people looking at me as if I were stupid. Once someone posts in a forum such as this, has she set herself up to be read very critically? Scary!

To: Janice Shell who wrote (26)	1/1/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Jack Clarke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4710

Janice: We've just met, and already I have to argue with you. I do remember "I couldn't care less" being used in conversation and then being replaced by what I think is the ironic "I could care less". Certainly the actual idea is conveyed by the former. The user really means that he/she cares very little about the topic under discussion, and if "I could care less" is interpreted literally, it must mean that the person has a greater degree of care than zero. See my post Message 3018268 Also, you are correct in that "people who" is now preferable to "people that", but it was not always so. Examples: 1. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: PORTIA. The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest -- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. 2. Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer: Thou that sittest at the right hand of the God the Father, have mercy on us. Just remember, the language is changing! Jack

To: Janice Shell who wrote (26)	1/1/1998 8:13:00 PM
From: James F. Hopkins	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4710

Janice; I'm poor at grammar, but I do know to use "people who", instead of "people that". Here is one that gets my goat.. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste " they said that to be poetic or something but how many kids hear it and attach to a meaning of the mind being a terrible thing. I'm an 8th grade drop out, yet for a collage to coin such a statement as that has from the first time I heard it caused me to wonder just how bright they are. Any how; who minds wasting terrible things ? Jim