Eloquence
I realize I’ve skipped a few days. In short, understand that the world has changed and that I needed some time to reflect.
Now: the main topic, eloquence in writing.
To me, the ability to communicate effectively in writing is extremely underrated. There’s nothing worse than a highly educated or seemingly successful professional who has a dire inability to write in English. Is the Internet to blame for this loss of eloquence? This is a weak excuse, but I’m certain that it hasn’t helped.
My solution: keep the art alive and be vocal about it. When you see someone using quotes improperly, please tell them. When you see someone using “i.e.” improperly (it stands for id est, which translates to “that is,” and
Please comment with examples of wonderfully terrible sentences produced by people who should know better. We’ll have fun tearing them apart together.
April 6th, 2005 at 3:40 pm
If you’re like me, then you’ll find these two sites extremely helpful:
http://aitech.ac.jp/~ckelly/midi/help/caps.html
and
http://www.uvsc.edu/owl/handouts/quotes.html
I’m not a grammar expert, but my pet peeves are when people capitalize words like “the” and “of” in titles. I also hate how portions of the mainstream media have stopped capitalizing “Internet.” Anyway, look around through the main site of the second link if you have time. It actually has a lot of information
April 6th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
I’m very sorry! I just realized I forgot a period in my previous comment. Great, now I’m ruined.
April 7th, 2005 at 8:51 am
My main pet peeve is the overuse of “myself.” It’s common overuse is in verbal communication when people are trying to sound more eloquent than they are (during interviews and such). Therefore, for some reason, they replace the pronoun “me,” with “myself,” i.e., “Professor Gray and myself will deliver a joint lecture on Tuesday,” or, “The prosecutor asked the police officer and myself to testify at the trial.”
Another major pet peeve of mine is the incorrect use of gerunds. This is a lesser known part of speech, but we use it all the time in our speech. For those of you who don’t know, a gerund is simply a noun formed from a verb (usually by adding -ing). This case should often be, yet seldom is, preceded by a possesive– “We appreciate your donating money to our organization.”
April 26th, 2005 at 4:39 pm
Seth — why should a gerund be preceded by a possessive any more than other nouns? It isn’t necessary to preserve the verb’s subject in the form of a possessive. “John’s hobbies included playing chess.” “Taking the stairs is a healthier alternative to jumping from the window.”
Personally, I think your example sounds awkward, and would replace “your donating money” with “your donation”.
April 27th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Personally, Jim, I would suggest that you take an English class. Or maybe read a book.