tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post105628136113284965..comments2024-03-20T08:32:25.794-04:00Comments on Dept. of Nance: The Defender of The Language Returns, For Evil Never Sleeps In The Minds Of Those Bent Upon The Destruction Of EnglishNancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-68899476303935789862011-03-18T09:58:52.417-04:002011-03-18T09:58:52.417-04:00Nance this is a much needed service and rather amu...Nance this is a much needed service and rather amusing I might add! I will most likely be obsessive compulsive for the rest of the day about my writing. Sigh.Terahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05237609498669814077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-46066531833577272242011-03-10T15:56:37.577-05:002011-03-10T15:56:37.577-05:00Nina--I don't view friendly emails as a chance...Nina--I don't view friendly emails as a chance to whip out my Virtual Red Pen. And I would hope that this is true of all professionals who work in the writing/English-related fields. I'm always happy to get correspondence from friends and family, and the last thing on my mind is whether there is a comma missing or a spelling error. That's not important to me in this instance; content is. That, and the fact that someone was kind enough to think of me and THEN take time out of his or her busy life to sit and write me a note. How lovely!--Nance<br /><br />Lisa--Paranoid, I hope not. More conscious, well, that would be, in the words of Martha Stewart, "a good thing." This is not to say that your grammar has ever been brought to my attention as needing attention, but I think everyone should be a bit more mindful of The Language overall.--DoL<br /><br />RD--I thank you for your suggestion. Your comment actually has two concerns that might need to be addressed. Check back for your issue to be discussed in the near future.--DoLNancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-3767984753086529512011-03-08T23:01:24.441-05:002011-03-08T23:01:24.441-05:00Oh wow! I Love this!So funny, and helpful! I hate ...Oh wow! I Love this!So funny, and helpful! I hate to admit that I always forget the "everyday/every day" rule and probably use it improperly all the time. <br /><br />(I only wish I'd read this before I sent that email to you a few minutes ago. Sigh.)<br /><br />NinaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-91774750119152859002011-03-08T20:16:39.770-05:002011-03-08T20:16:39.770-05:00I like this series! Although it's making me a ...I like this series! Although it's making me a bit paranoid about my grammar. : )Lisa Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08096947438461486505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-64436735348401323012011-03-08T16:24:21.754-05:002011-03-08T16:24:21.754-05:00aplo--I'm so glad to provide you with some lau...aplo--I'm so glad to provide you with some laughter. I know how you feel these days. March is a long month; our spring break is right before Easter--SO LATE--and Ohio's governor just got away with a Wisconsin Move. I'm heartbroken and angry, and I feel abandoned by the news media and organizations like MoveOn, who are pouring money and effort into WI and Indiana like crazy and simply ignored us. Today in the workroom we said that we have a new mission statement for our school: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." We weren't kidding. The overriding atmosphere in our building among staff is one of hopelessness. And where is President Obama? He has left teachers high and dry. Believe me, we <i><b>will NOT forget</b></i>.<br /><br />Melissa B.--I am a Defender of The Language, so I am not willing to weigh in on what is essentially an etiquette issue. I would direct you to a Miss Manners-type individual for your query. Many times, defending The Language is at odds with social constructs, and at times, I must defer to such things. Sad, but there it is.--DoLNancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-63938114300403270262011-03-08T07:30:34.730-05:002011-03-08T07:30:34.730-05:00I rarely blog anymore, Nance...but I still come by...I rarely blog anymore, Nance...but I still come by now and again. Can I say that THIS has to be one of the best pieces you've written? I actually laughed this morning. Thank you.apathy loungehttp://wordgirl5.typepad.com/apathy_loungenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-84936716481584131142011-03-07T20:12:28.330-05:002011-03-07T20:12:28.330-05:00Dear Defender: I'm like, in awe of you for the...Dear Defender: I'm like, in awe of you for the butt-kicking you deliver every day! I was in the mood just recently to edit an e-mail in "tracking" mode, and then return to sender. What's the etiquette on that one, dearest?Melissa B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13172152515024862967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-44757596732470110742011-03-07T00:36:57.407-05:002011-03-07T00:36:57.407-05:00I'd like the Defender to comment on the (mis)u...I'd like the Defender to comment on the (mis)use of "there's". I hear it frequently these days, by both the well and poorly educated : "There's problems in Wisconsin these days." Or "There's things we'll never understand." It's driving me insane!RDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-31107296900548835542011-03-06T20:49:09.743-05:002011-03-06T20:49:09.743-05:00Nancy--I will submit your general question to the ...Nancy--I will submit your general question to the Defender for a future post. The short answer to your present question, using the examples you gave, however, is that you would say, "She looked at me as though I WERE crazy." The reason lies in the term "subjunctive mood." I'll let the Defender explain it more fully later. Thanks for submitting a question!Nancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-55412125772508538412011-03-06T13:35:57.639-05:002011-03-06T13:35:57.639-05:00Hi Nance,
I would appreciate your explaining the ...Hi Nance,<br /><br />I would appreciate your explaining the rule of "was" and "were".<br /><br />"She looked at me as though I WAS crazy"<br /><br />"She looked at me as though I WERE crazy"<br /><br />Thanks allot. I could not resist that,Nance,but my question is sincere.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09426821858355153898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-52671742569853697332011-03-04T16:17:15.308-05:002011-03-04T16:17:15.308-05:00Mikey G.--Thankfully, you included an emoticon (su...Mikey G.--Thankfully, you included an emoticon (suitable, by the way, for casual online communication, but not for more formal written documents, ever!) in your comment, or I would have been stricken anew with Grammar/Usage Despair. On another note, I am glad that you enjoy these posts, and I hope you find them affirming. --DoL<br /><br />J.@jj.com--Your poor, abused husband. What a terrible childhood he must have had. I hope you continue to surround him with lovingly provided proper grammar and usage in both speech and writing in your marriage to help ameliorate such awful memories. How I wish I could just ignore it all, but alas! I cannot.--DoL<br /><br />Carolina Linthead--What a colorful and colloquial anecdote. Thank you for sharing. I did notice, however, that you still had to employ the original idiom to explain your...<i>situation</i>. Hmmmm....Be that as it may, I hope your dog bite healed nicely, and that you did not take it out on the boxer, a breed I'm especially fond of.--DoL<br /><br />Mary G--Oh, the horror! I overheard the lamentations of a couple of teachers recently, and it would seem that "allot" has suddenly come to the forefront of freshman writing as the alternative to "alot" as a heinous occurrence. My work, it would seem, is never done. With regard to your query, of course you may submit your question, as is invited by Nance in the final paragraph of DoL posts. I await it with <b>bated</b> (notice the spelling!) breath.--DoLNancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-52205897702532228352011-03-04T11:19:37.503-05:002011-03-04T11:19:37.503-05:00I love this segment a lot :-)I love this segment a lot :-)Mikey G.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-1902987616681188912011-03-04T00:38:38.549-05:002011-03-04T00:38:38.549-05:00When my husband was in middle school, kids used to...When my husband was in middle school, kids used to ask him to borrow them a pencil, like this: "Hey, dude, borrow me a pencil". He figured they were idiots and ignored them.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00653383372182667361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-74290579667254309482011-03-03T22:46:14.046-05:002011-03-03T22:46:14.046-05:00As a person who actually has been nipped in the bu...As a person who actually has been nipped in the butt, I feel compelled to respond. It all started when I was playing tag football with my neighbors. Their boxer decided he wanted to play, too. As I was running away from his owners, he ran up and quite forcefully nipped me in the butt! My running away from his owners obviously was a problem for him, and so he dealt with the problem swiftly and effectively, figuratively nipping it in the bud by nipping me in the butt. So there :-DCarolina Lintheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16335905555994442416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-58979763027640297222011-03-03T22:24:27.860-05:002011-03-03T22:24:27.860-05:00And then there is 'allot'. Not to be conf...And then there is 'allot'. Not to be confused with 'all out', as an umpire would call it.<br /><br />;-}<br /><br />I love it when you do this - may I submit a question?MARY Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13178370815712313585noreply@blogger.com