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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
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