Re: jolly times with the pluperfect

From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
Date: Tue Sep 10 2002 - 10:57:26 EDT

I almost agree with you Now, Scottie, after I've spent some time trying to
write and even longer reading. Maybe the problem is the way it's taught.
All I remember from childhood grammar instruction was spending what seemed
like hours diagramming sentences and feeling like it was the most tedious
chore in the world, even worse than mathematics.

Jim

Scottie Bowman wrote:

> There seems to be the half muttered assumption that
> learning the mechanisms of language is as dreary a chore
> as tidying one's bedroom. Yet it seems to me that for
> a writer his relationship to his weapon is much the same
> as the sniper's to his rifle: being able to assemble it while
> blindfolded, knowing how to clean & oil it, taking pleasure
> in the smooth interlocking of finely machined parts....
>
> I suppose I must be sick. But I always found grammar
> to be FUN. In the old days, having led the rugger team
> to victory, then dealt with the attentions of the more attractive
> girls, I could think of few pleasanter diversions than a evening
> of Hunt the Metonymy, or a debate on Whither the Subjunctive?
> or a civilised hour pasting the latest entries into my Metaphor
> album.
>
> Scottie B.
>
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Received on Tue Sep 10 10:57:34 2002

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