grammar

[Sue Blake]

On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 11:58:59PM -0500, Kevin Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. wrote:
> 
> > Stephen McKay wrote:
> > > On Wednesday, 21st May 2003, brian at planetshwoop.com wrote:
> > >
> > >>On Tue, 20 May 2003, Gary W. Swearingen wrote:
> > >>
> > >>>What's worse is that y'all apply the same old propaganda about
> > >>                      ^^^^^
> > >>
> > >>You commend his grammar and then stick that whammie in there?
> > >>
> > >>You, not "y'all".  Please.
> > >
> > > No!  No!  It is merely artistic flair!
> > >
> > > Once he's established his impeccable grasp of grammar he is
> > > permitted to bend it in order to demonstrate his grasp of the
> > > vernacular, hence showing he not only knows the Official
> > > Grammar, but also a Dialect.  It's a solid
> > > points scorer.
> > >
> > > This isn't the same as the 99% of Internet users who believe a
> > > valid contraction of "you are" is "your", or the other new
> > > percent who know
> > > about "you're", but believe it is a possessive pronoun.
> > >
> > > Salt with :-) as necessary, and enjoy your language!
> >
> > Are you talking about the people who don't know the difference
> > between
> > "then" and "than" and think that "sux" is spelled properly?
> >
> The spelling of this word as "sux" is permissible as a
> visual rhyme during religious flame wars, e.g. "Tux sux!"
> 
> Kevin Kinsey
> grammar-nazi-in-training

Now, now, there's no need for that :-)  Unless they've been
scared off already, most people respond well to the
provision of approachable resources for understanding, and
those who don't don't matter.

Some years ago, rather than complaining about people putting
their feet in their mouths when complaining about other people's
grammar, I simply put up a web page for reference.
http://www.welearn.com.au/~sue/grammar.html

I think it's time to add a comment on the use of "in case".

Recently I provided some IT staff with the documentation for a
new piece of software. Many times it said things like "In case
Foo, do Bar". The users (correctly in my view) read that as
advice of a precaution worth taking, and took it.

Trained to take all reasonable precautions and to be thorough in
their work, they read the whole manual and started doing all Bar
so that the system would be protected in case any Foo ever
happened. I could only offer praise, even though the system was
ruined by their actions.

Apparently, when the writer said "in case" he actually
meant "if". In other words, he meant don't do Bar unless
Foo. Why couldn't he just say "if"? I have no idea.

I had to sed the whole documentation directory, replacing
every "in case" with "if", reinstall, apologise, and ask
them to re-read the manual and start again.


-- 

Regards,
        -*Sue*-