SPAM-LOW: Whoever comes is the right people

[Christy Lee-Engel]

Wendy, I love that sentence you highlighted!  ".*..subtly dangerous
hints...that state what most of us know and at times forget*" -  sounds just
as much like an Open Space spiritual teaching (which much of this thread has
been about, anyway) as a procedural grammatical one. Thank you!

xo Christy

Christy Lee-Engel, ND, LAc
206.399.0868
http://oneskywellness.com



On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Wendy Farmer-O'Neil <wendy at xe.net> wrote:

> This is such a fascinating conversation.  I've always used good ole' Strunk
> & White to help me out--on either side of the debate.  S&W pretty much has
> biblical status among grammar freaks.  So here are some of the most
> interesting bits: Elementary Rules of usage #9.  "The number of the
> subject determines the number of the verb. "
>
> but English being english....this is followed up by all of the exceptions;
> my favourite being:
> "Some nouns that appear to be plural are usually construed as singular and
> given a singular verb. In these cases, the writer must simply learn the
> idiom...The contents of a jar may be singular or plural, *depending on
> what's in the jar---jam or marbles.*"  (so to Harrison's point---people or
> People :))
>
> And the best bit of all, from the introduction to "An Approach to Style":
> "Here we leave solid ground.  Who can confidently say what ignites a
> certain combination of words, causing them to explode in the mind? Who knows
> why certain notes in music are capable of stirring the listener deeply,
> though the same notes slightly rearranged are impotent? These are high
> mysteries, and this chapter is a mystery story, thinly disguised....The
> preceding chapters contain instructions drawn from established English
> usage; this one contains advice drawn from a writer's experience of writing.
>  Since the book is a rule book, t*hese cautionary remarks, these subtly
> dangerous hints, are presented in the form of rules, but they are, in
> essence, mere gentle reminders: they state what most of us know and at times
> forget*."
>
> Sound familiar?? :)
>
> If you don't own a copy of Strunk and White's, "The Elements of Style"  and
> you write at all regularly in English, i encourage you to see if you can
> find a copy in your local used bookstore.  Probably the best 85 pages your
> writing will ever experience.
>
> hugs,
> Wendy
>
>
>

*
*
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