I have to tell you all that I really appreciate your very forgiving nature.
I also appreciate your comments regarding my blunder. I'm not exactly sure
to what I should attribute your good nature...possibly to your high level of
education. I have participated in discussion groups, however, where there
were a couple of people who basically "ran the show" and who were very
intolerant and unforgiving. Thank you for being as human as this humble
participant.
Believe it or not, I even have a pertinent question. :-) I remember being
taught something about not placing a comma after words ending in "ly" when
they come at the beginning of a sentence with the exception of words like
"firstly, secondly, incidentally, etc.
Example: "Actually I have never been to Spain."
There seems to be a natural pause after "actually" in that particular
sentence, and it makes me want to insert a comma. Which is correct?
Thanks,
~Ruth
----- Original Message -----
From: Reinhold Schlieper <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Social Security
I am a mere lurker most of the time, but I always dislike intensely when
one gang decides to insist on an epistemological sieve for all the
rest. I don't think that the human mind per se or human knowledge in
general is handicapped by serious compartmentalization, is it? Why
would we want to handicap these phenomena in that manner artificially? I
appreciated the missive about the self-serving senators very much. I
even liked the quip about the analogy between sex and understanding.
<g> After all, I live IN this world, not merely in a grammar world.
Somehow I'm thinking of Browning's "A Grammarian's Funeral" at the
thought of being "IN this world" . . . don't know why.
Purely practically speaking, I'd say it probably wastes less time and
bandwidth to tolerate the occasional off-topic epistle than to sputter
on about some demarcation of orthodox subject-matter. There is always
the DELete key.
==Reinhold
Robert Einarsson wrote:
>
> I feel the same. This listserv should be used for our grammar
> discussions only.
>
> It's bad enough that everyone is forced to see my opinions on
> grammar, let alone politics.
>
> > As much as I appreciate the message on Social Security, I would prefer
> > that the content of this list be reserved for issues directly related to
> > grammar instruction. I don't know about you, but I already get way too
> > much mail to handle. I really intend no offense to Ruth -- I know she
> > posted this in the spirit of good citizenship.
> >
> > Anybody feel the same?
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics
> > English Department, California Polytechnic State University
> > One Grand Avenue . San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> > Tel. (805)-756-2184 . Fax: (805)-756-6374 . Dept. Phone. 756-259
> > . E-mail: [log in to unmask] . Home page:
http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
> > **
> > "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
> > but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank
Oppenheimer
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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