Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists:
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
No. 1 is an evil stepsister, to No 2, who is a nicer son than cousin No. 1a is. So much for the merit of the relatives.
And of course, as you well know, these are all pretty much the same, but 2 is a more awkward child than are the others. Assuming as he does that the purpose of writing is not only to communicate but also to entertain, James J. Kilpatrick says that cadence is of great, though little-discussed, import.
To many people, the elimination of the "and" improves the cadence of the sentence. It seems to flow more trippingly through the mind and across the tongue.
Now, as an avowed descriptivist (shudder) you need to explain why you used periods, commas, capitalization, and sentence order. Since descriptivists appear to believe that there are no rules, why do you follow rules?
Just curious and all!
TEd
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists: Faldage 03/16/06 02:46 AM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists: inselpeter 03/16/06 03:12 AM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists: TEd Remington 03/16/06 09:31 AM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists Faldage 03/16/06 11:41 AM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists inselpeter 03/16/06 12:36 PM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists maverick 03/16/06 02:03 PM The world according to... musick 03/16/06 02:05 PM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists TEd Remington 03/16/06 03:23 PM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists inselpeter 03/16/06 10:54 PM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists Faldage 03/17/06 01:53 AM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists: Jackie 03/16/06 02:57 PM Re: Question for our card-carrying prescriptivists: Patallen 03/17/06 12:51 AM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,318Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 775 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 13ddrinnan 1
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613tsuwm 10,542wofahulicodoc 10,535LukeJavan8 9,916Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org