Posted by beardedlady on April 28, 2002, at 6:53:06
In reply to I wish I WAS sure... » beardedlady, posted by Kar on April 28, 2002, at 6:20:59
That's the trouble with every field; a handful of naysayers pop up every once in awhile.
I adhere to more of the old school of grammar, but I flip flop. I have pardoned a couple of split infinitives (to boldly go), as okay'd by William Saffire, but I never have allowed myself to say "different than," opting for "different from," even though Barbara Wallraff, the Atlantic's (itals there) grammar columnist and author of Word Court (itals there), says it's okay (and she's pretty smart!). And I love starting sentences with and. But is fine, too.
My daughter says, "I'm pretty smart, amn't I?" And I haven't corrected her. In fact, I prefer that. (Are I not? Am I not? You be the judge!) I looked it up one day and found out that many writers have used it (including James Joyce) and prefer it to the ungrammatical, illogical counterpart. So it's a keeper, and I'll begin using it myself when I remember!
Anyway, when in doubt, change the sentence. I wish I HAD the answers!
This ends another episode of "The Anal Grammarian." Thanks for watching. See you next week.
beardy : )>
poster:beardedlady
thread:22637
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020422/msgs/22732.html