On 3/1/2010 9:42 AM, ccornell - OpenOffice.org wrote:
On 03/01/10 15:31, Claire Wood wrote:
Hi All
I've noticed some common faults with grammar and thought I should raise
this, just as a reminder or aid for anyone that is not a native-English
speaker/writer.
You're completely right :-) I often find that rewriting the sentences
will remove the "need" to start a sentence with "Because" or "But".
Sometimes the grammar oopses arrive in the text because it's written
by a non-native speaker... or you get text written the odd hybrid like
me who is a native English speaker, but gets things muddled because
he's spent the last 12 years living and working in non-English parts
of the planet and mixes up the English grammar with the grammar of the
local language :-P Sometimes the writer is writing as they speak
which can also lead to some of the odd grammar.
Anyway, please keep up the edits. you've got fresh eyes on the texts,
not blinded by multiple reads and edits. The more we all tweak out
the little errors and oddities, the better our manuals become (and the
easier they are to translate).
C.
I typically do not start sentences with "but" or "and". Yet, I have read
articles from grammarians who state that starting sentences with
conjunctions was considered OK in standard English, dating back some 300
years, both in the US and abroad. The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
sits atop my old trusty P4, and I knew in advance that it actually
promotes the use of starting sentences with "and" in appropriate use
cases. Cf. paragraph 5.191 in the CMoS and check it out...
Be advised that there are grammar rules and then there are pedantic
grammar rules, typically pushed by aggressive school marms--who, as a
class, possibly have no lives and make up some more restrictive
rules--as is their wont.
Gary
--
Gary Schnabl
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