Subject: Re: Tautological Tendencies
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Sat May 04 2002 - 08:49:33 GMT
Of course, no one was arguing that using a split infinitive was a
violation of a rule, but I like the "rule" about when to use a split
infinitive and when not. I think the way the sentence sounds should
indeed reign supreme.
The Bartleby link isn't to Strunk and White, but just to Strunk. I
think Strunk and White is still under copyright, and the only way to get
it is the old fashioned way...to buy it.
The other links look good :). Thanks.
Jim
Will Hochman wrote:
> I like this explanation of splitting infinitives from Paul Brians, a
> professor at Washington State U. "For the hyper-critical, 'to boldly
> go where no man has gone before' should be 'to go boldly. . . .' It
> is good to be aware that inserting one or more words between "to" and
> a verb is not strictly speaking an error, and is often more expressive
> and graceful than moving the intervening words elsewhere; but so many
> people are offended by split infinitives that it is better to avoid
> them except when the alternatives sound strained and
> awkward." Professor Brians created a list of errors that is way
> cool: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html If you really
> want to read Strunk and
> White: http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html (I read this book with
> respect but my students prefer On Writing Well by William Zinsser) And
> here's a fine, user-friendly site for grammar and
> writing: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm I offer these
> resources but I'm just too tired to really care at all about
> correctness in this bananabowl. I've been reading Language and the
> Internet by David Crystal and he would say we are writing and reading
> "Netspeak." Crystal writes "The linguistic features will take time to
> evolve, especially in a medium where technological facilities change
> so quickly and where some degree of nonconformity is commonplace among
> users, but eventually they will provide the community with an
> occupational dialects which newcomers will have to learn if they wish
> to join it" (60). Wasn't it the Who who sang, "Meet the new boss, same
> as the old boss"? Huffing and puffing about bad English won't blow my
> house down. Staying attuned to language and its wonders is where the
> fun is, will--
> Will Hochman
>
> Assistant Professor of English
> Southern Connecticut State University
> 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515
> 203 392 5024
>
> http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html
>
>
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