At 02:10 PM 2/15/01 -0600, you wrote:
>The problem is not so much with spoken English, but with written English,
>and it seems to me there is a big difference between mastering speaking and
>mastering writing.

The difference is really not between spoken English and written English,
but between interactive communication with an audience (spoken English) vs.
having not any opportunity for feedback at all (written English).

Consider that good writers do nothing more than anticipate EVERYTHING that
a speaker's audience would require, but they must accomplish this goal with
absolutely no feedback.  Writers, then, must answer all the questions - all
the needs - of their audience without ever knowing if they're succeeding.
This is the writer's problem; this - not grammar - is what makes writing so
difficult.

Geoff Layton

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