NoOp wrote:
On 10/02/2008 04:41 PM, Harold Fuchs wrote:
You and your teacher are absolutely correct. The purpose of language is
*correctly* to transfer the thoughts of one to another. That is
precisely why grammar is important. The phrase "The President said
Monday ..." implies that the word "Monday" is included in what the
President said. Therefore it does not *correctly* transfer the thought.
The same is true of "Biden will debate Palin". No he won't. He'll debate
[the issues] *with* Palin. If he debated Palin he'd be discussing her
existence. Again, the thought is not correctly transferred. To get the
thought correctly transferred you need the right grammar.
Well I'm disappointed that neither of you picked up on my spelling of
gastly... :-)
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Ok guys - I'll byte. Put your tongue in your cheek.
missing the spelling means I can't spell without a spell checker. :)
nothing new there... ;)
The President said Monday that ... is clearly a non correct construction.
said Monday that ... non grammar construction
The Monday that ... grammar construction
Monday was a ... grammar construction
1st separates Monday from that by an implied comma, pause or shift in
thought from where/when to what/why.
2nd makes Monday the pronoun
3nd same
To be more completely correct:
On Monday last, the President of the USA stated: "Quote his words.".
(And the final period does go outside the quotes.)
No ambiguity.
By the way:
The purpose of language is to *correctly* transfer the thoughts from one
== ====
to another. You can not "to transfer of".
She was a tough old bird. And a Grand Teacher!
It has been a long time since I played in the grammar pile. Her
teachings, coupled with those of my 7/8 grade English teacher, have made
reading modern HOW-TO manuals extremely painful. As praise to those two
I include this: I attended 3 days of English 101 and was told not to
come back to class until finals because there had to be one for me.
After 4 years of no grammar in High School plus none the 1st semester
either, those two still earned me an A- and an extra study period.
I'm done. Ya'all have fun now Ya hear? Big smile. Been a pleasure.
Steve
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