Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2(pesnta.1.2) 9/5/84; site scc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!pesnta!scc!steiny From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Re: YAGF (Yet Another Grammar Flame) Message-ID: <183@scc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Oct-84 15:51:57 EDT Article-I.D.: scc.183 Posted: Mon Oct 8 15:51:57 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 10-Oct-84 05:33:27 EDT References: <136@ssc-vax.UUCP> <36200159@uiucdcs.UUCP> Organization: Personetics, Inc. - Santa Cruz, Calif. Lines: 32 *** > > And boy is your face red. > > Oh, bullsh*t, Ken. The original note was damn near unreadable. Marla's > note contains one typographical error. If you can't tell any difference > between the two -- if you think they are equally bad -- then you ought to > pull the cable from the back of your terminal and play by yourself for a > while. > Scott Renner I believe Scott missed Ken's point. There is no such thing as "correct" English. The problem is probably equivocation on the term "grammatically correct." We are taught in school that "grammar" is rules we learn from "grammar" books. There is another use of the term "grammar." It means "the intuitive rules used to generate and understand language." With this use of the word the job of a grammarian is to discover the rules people use and describe them. If a grammar does not reflect the actual way that people USE language it is incorrect. A speaker of a language is the final arbitrator, not "grammar" books. One particulary delightful aspect of the net is that people often use a less formal writing style. I call it "conversational writing." -- Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/