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[23 Apr 2012|04:25pm] |
So, uh, hi there, I'm your new owner, overlord, head honcho, glorious leader, number one burrito, and whatever other platitudes you'd like to throw my way.
The previous owner and sole maintainer/moderator, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) tonybologna, seems to have deleted his account without setting up anyone to take care of the community. I've never spoken to him, and the only reason I'm the owner now is because I happened to notice he was gone first and talked to LJ Abuse.
My moderating style is to keep the beatings to a minimum. Ha ha! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, please tip your waitstaff. But seriously, I have no intention to mess with anything at all. For various reasons I'm almost always near the computer, so if anything pops up all my contact info is in my profile. I'll be watching, but obviously can't keep an eye on everything at once.
Since I'm uncomfortable with being the only person with power, if anyone would like to volunteer to help moderate I'd appreciate it.
And finally, I'll be clearing the moderation queue and removing the queue entirely, and setting this post as sticky for a week or so just to make sure people know what's going on.
Thanks for your understanding during the putsch!
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| Fast Food Menus and the Systematic Degradation of the English Language on Whim... |
[21 May 2012|08:40am] |
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GRAMMARIANS, UNITE! I NEED YOUR HELP.
I might be about to lose my job as a sign designer at a theme park because I want the menus I design to be grammatically correct within the bounds of Standard American English. The director of our food and beverage department wants me to omit all hyphens and commas from his miles-long descriptions of our menu items because he wants it to be "just words and prices." Apparently hyphens and commas that *I* think (and SAE grammarians think) make for a clearer communication *he* says, "will overwhelm the customer." You know, because 8 descriptors with no punctuation isn't overwhelming or anything. He has been heckling me and is actually trying to get me fired for insubordination because I printed the menus with correct grammar. All I can say is, "...Really?"
WHAT I NEED FROM YOU ALL, if possible, are photos of menu boards out in America that contain correctly-punctuated menu item descriptions. If I get fired from this job (or come up for review in this matter) because of my desire to keep Standard American English intact in ALL of our theme park signage, I will need a body of images to back up my side of the story.
Discussion of this and whether or not I'm insane for my refusal would also be interesting, if you all are so inclined.
Thanks, everybody!
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[20 May 2012|11:23am] |
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[07 May 2012|07:18am] |
I have no idea why this is proving to be so difficult. I want to give an engraved present and the inscription will read as follows: "A writer, always."
Is that correct? Should it be "A writer always" or "Always a writer"???
I prefer the style of "A writer, always" but I want to be sure it will fly.
Thanks!
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| Don't mess with Raymond Chandler's split infinitives |
[25 Apr 2012|05:55am] |
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I ran across this wonderful post on Letters of Note where Raymond Chandler put the smackdown on a proofreader "purist" who wanted to unsplit his infinitive, and later wrote a poem on the topic. I never would have thought to rhyme "infinitive" with "shiv," but then, I'm no Raymond Chandler.
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| Passive to active voice |
[28 Feb 2012|05:51pm] |
I am in a technical school right now and we have been given an exercise to change some sentences from passive to active voice.
Since in my native language ( Romanian) we do not focus on this while in school and it would probably be a lot different in it anyway, I am having a bit of trouble making sure the following are indeed changed to the correct active voice.
I would appreciate if you could assist and let me know if they are indeed in active voice. Thank you
1. He went to work before going to the hospital.
2. The manager issued old cold weather uniforms before our trip to the mountains.
3. Students should check to make sure active voice has been used once drafts are completed.
4. Managers will use careful consideration to all promotion recommendations.
5. Snipers projectiles can be recorded in slow motion by high speed motion picture cameras.
6. The police officer investigated the accuser's background.
7. People with medical issues should go to the doctor.
8. The mayor will open the new sports' center in a few days.
9. Your manager will tell you which method of decontamination to use after a blood spill.
10.Travelers must take the weather into consideration when planning a trip.
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| Need help |
[11 Feb 2012|02:56pm] |
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HI, guys, maybe somebody has some free time to help me check my summary, pleeeeeeeeeease.
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[10 Feb 2012|09:08pm] |
"Having been a dancer, singer, artist and performer; I believe I possess artistic qualities."
Would the usage of the semicolon be correct, or is a coma more appropriate?
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| Composing an official email |
[10 Feb 2012|08:17am] |
Hello there! I have to compose an official email in English for the first time ever, and I'd feel a bit safer if anyone could give me some feedback about it.
The mail will be send to a person who's a journalist, author and a scholar for international studies.
""Dear xy:
We are two students of Contemporary Japanese from the yxz in Dusseldorf, Germany. We are due to write our BA thesis about the link between the burst of the Bubble Economy and youth delinquency/violence in Japan in the 1990s, and while your book "yxz" has already been a very helpful source we're still searching for further information and theories on this matter.
Could you possibly recommend some sources that might be useful?
Yours sincerely
yxz"
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| Modal Verb Rules |
[09 Mar 2012|04:50pm] |
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Sorry, this is gonna be vague because I´m really short on time, but I´m looking for comprehensive information on which modal verbs can´t be used with which modal verbs and why? Can someone give me the run-down or point me to some accurate, clear online resources? Thanks a bunch! : )
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| I literally dislike the misuse of the word literally |
[06 Feb 2012|08:14pm] |
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Have you noticed any interesting or amusing misuses of the word "literally" lately? This evening I was watching a reality-type show in which a group of people were competing for the chance to win money to start their own business, and one of the contestants said: "I would literally die for a chance to win this prize." I think if he literally died, he wouldn't have a chance to win that prize.
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| Epitome vs. Epitomy |
[11 Jan 2012|09:41pm] |
Can someone give me examples of the right usage of the words 'epitome' and 'epitomy'? Is there even such a word as 'epitomy'?
Thanks!
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[11 Jan 2012|09:34am] |
An Engineering professor has just sent me the following inquiry and I am a bit uncertain about if it is correct or not. Personally the ''as little as'' sounds ackward but gramatically I think the passage is correct:
Hi X,
May I kindly ask you to check for me if the use of "as much/little ... as" in the following two sentences sound reasonable?
There has to exist just as much air void in asphalt concrete as any extra void would reduce the stability of flexible pavement. On the other hand, there has to exist just as little air void in asphalt concrete as the voids are large enough to absorb the thermal expansion of bitumen when exposed to high temperature values.
Thanks in advance!
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| Justin Bieber's Perfume |
[21 Dec 2011|11:51pm] |
My brother and I were arguing over the usage of this sentence that our mother sent us in an email. It reads:
"Jenny has a friend who likes Justin Bieber who recently launched his perfume called 'Someday' and it costs $45."
He thought that Jenny had a friend who launched a perfume called 'Someday' that costs $45, whereas I thought that it was quite clear that the sentence meant that Justin Biber launched the perfume (well, obviously).
He claims that the sentence should have had a comma as such:
"Jenny has a friend who likes Justin Bieber, who recently launched his perfume called 'Someday' and it costs $45."
I thought the comma was irrelevant and decided to present this case to my fellow grammarians. (Well now that I'm reading it it seems like the comma was needed after all, but what the heck.)
What do you guys think?
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[14 Dec 2011|08:00pm] |
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Here is a silly question police is or are))
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| Capitalizing and Slashes |
[12 Dec 2011|11:34am] |
I've two quick questions.
How do you use the slash '/' in the following instance:
Pumpkin Soup / Wholemeal Bread
You leave spaces in between the two options, right? I see people who put it as Pumpkin Soup/Wholemeal Bread.
And if it were just one-worded options it'd be Soup/Bread, no?
I've a friend who maddeningly leaves a space after the slash, but not in front of it, like so: Soup/ Bread or Cat/ Dog.
Why did she put a space behind the slash and not before too?
Second question is, when do you capitalize every word in your Subject Title for, say, your blog entries and such? Or do you just capitalize the first word?
For example, is it "My Holiday Around the World" or would you put your entry title as "My holiday around the world"? Or is it just your own preference? Just curious.
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[04 Dec 2011|11:06pm] |
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grammarpolice
