Brad,
The problem I have with what you say is
that you define “error” in a way that most experts on the language
find at least naïve.
Marshall
From:
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009
2:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Craig: Making Peace In
The Language Wars
Craig, I wonder why you misquote me so badly. Are you
that hard up for a whipping boy or do you not understand what you read? What I have said "over and over again" is
that "there is at least one past perfect error on any grammar website or
in any grammar textbook you can name". That statement, in those
exact words, is at the bottom of each and every one of what is now 107
exhibits from 107 different grammar sources. If you doubt me, pick any number
from 1 to 107 and I'll pull it up. The point is that the errors are clearly
demonstrable. It does NOT mean that "the handbooks and grammar
books have it all wrong". I have NOT said it and I do NOT believe it. The conclusion any reasonable person would come
to, if he or she considered the data, would have to be that there is, resipsa
loquitur, a degree of misunderstanding. Just as I concluded from an
early questionnaire, in which 40 respondents differed 60-40 on one simple
either-or choice and the same people differed 50-50 on another, that there is
some misunderstanding somewhere. It doesn't matter what the questions were or
how valid they may have been relative to the fixed stars. There WAS a
demonstrable difference in how professional grammarians viewed it,
whatever "it" was. Would you like to go somewhere with this
information or do you want to continue amusing yourself with how many ways
you can abuse the messenger before you finally kill him? It's all right there and it does not vanish because
you shut your eyes and hope the others will all do the same. Here's an entry from my Grammar Exhibits file: ~~~~~~~~~~~ Meaning-Centered Grammar, by Craig Hancock, c.2005. My dinner
had been being eaten by your dog. Jesus! Is it any wonder students hate grammar and
never really learn it? This one is too dumb to contemplate and is
totally inappropriete as one
of only a very few examples in a grammar text. There is no entry in the Index for "past
perfect", which is what he calls it in the text. This is Exhibit #90+ to my assertion that there is
at least one past perfect error on any grammar website or in any grammar
textbook you can name. ~~~~~~~~~~~ I know you've seen this before. It says that the
noted sentence is, "inappropriate as one of only a very few examples". It does NOT say
that the entire grammar text "has it all wrong". Had you said to me, "Oops, how did that blooper
slip into my otherwise fine grammar text?", we could have pressed on
without all the manufactured acrimony that you and others have heaped upon
me. We can deal with it or not but please don't write,
"Brad keeps saying over and over again that the handbooks and grammar
books have it all wrong." That is NOT what Brad says nor what Brad
thinks nor what Brad means nor what Brad believes. .brad.30apr09. --- On Thu,
4/30/09, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
wrote: Herb, |
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