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Author Topic: Words and Grammar and Stuff  (Read 126227 times)

AAAutin

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #840 on: February 08, 2013, 04:35:07 PM »
Speaking of student essays:
Can eyes be "ripe with hope"?

Sure, as long as the eyes in question are swollen, enlarged, full to fruition. (Or if the eyes are, in fact, grapes...grapes grown to perfection on an Obama Valley vine.)

sdedalus

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #841 on: February 08, 2013, 04:36:35 PM »
I could see that if they mean to imply the eyes are big, juicy, and/or close to bursting thanks to so much hope. If hope was widespread within their eyes, they'd be "rife with hope". Either way, it sounds like an awkward construction.
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oneaprilday

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #842 on: February 08, 2013, 04:55:42 PM »
Speaking of student essays:
Can eyes be "ripe with hope"?

Sure, as long as the eyes in question are swollen, enlarged, full to fruition. (Or if the eyes are, in fact, grapes...grapes grown to perfection on an Obama Valley vine.)
Haha, exactly. And I keep imagining engorged eyes. Gross.


I could see that if they mean to imply the eyes are big, juicy, and/or close to bursting thanks to so much hope. If hope was widespread within their eyes, they'd be "rife with hope". Either way, it sounds like an awkward construction.
Hmm, yes, if ripe means "wide" or "big" that might work, but yeah, it's an awkward construction at best.

I'll just put a "wc" notation above it and make the student think about the choice.

("wc" = questionable word choice - not water closet, btw. British editors use a different notation, I guess?)

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #843 on: February 08, 2013, 05:27:36 PM »
Is "based off" way wrong? Why does it piss FLY off so much?
I think it is wrong, but I'm not sure I have a clear answer for why.  I'd make a correcting mark on a student essay if I saw it, anyway - and I do see that phrase pretty frequently.

Yeah, a professor I had freshman year brought it up as odd and said it was incorrect but didn't give an exact reason why aside from saying that the phrase comes from being "on base" and how being "off base" is bad, so it doesn't mean what people were using it for. It was an FSP so I was one of only two English majors in the entire class, and I'm not the biggest grammar buff anyway so when I was asked about it a few days ago (the guy even asked for a citation to say why it was incorrect to use "based off of") I had a difficult time explaining exactly why. Aside from "off of" being redundant anyway. Either way, I just gave him this link. .edu so whatever.

But yeah, I wouldn't need to see "I jumped off of the building" because "I jumped off the building" is quicker, cleaner, and whatever.

oneaprilday

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #844 on: February 08, 2013, 06:01:13 PM »
Preposition use in English is a bit weird and random, anyway - I think it's usage that makes something correct, more than anything.   I have an undergrad minor in TESL, and I remember how incredibly difficult it was to explain to the English as a Second Language students I was working with why, for example, you get "on the bus" but not "in the bus."   Essentially, there's no good reason or regular rule why one is correct and the other isn't; language learners just have to memorize the variations.

¡Keith!

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #845 on: February 09, 2013, 12:27:37 AM »
Speaking of student essays:
Can eyes be "ripe with hope"?

Sure, as long as the eyes in question are swollen, enlarged, full to fruition. (Or if the eyes are, in fact, grapes...grapes grown to perfection on an Obama Valley vine.)
Haha, exactly. And I keep imagining engorged eyes. Gross.


I could see that if they mean to imply the eyes are big, juicy, and/or close to bursting thanks to so much hope. If hope was widespread within their eyes, they'd be "rife with hope". Either way, it sounds like an awkward construction.
Hmm, yes, if ripe means "wide" or "big" that might work, but yeah, it's an awkward construction at best.

I'll just put a "wc" notation above it and make the student think about the choice.

("wc" = questionable word choice - not water closet, btw. British editors use a different notation, I guess?)

Maybe it's the noun that is throwing you off? The image of ripe eyes. The phrase "ripe with hope" is maybe not common but its not an unused metaphor. A google search reveals "words ripe with hope," "a city ripe with hope," "an outlook ripe with hope," "a world ripe with hope," and "cheeks ripe with hope" if one noun (words) can be ripe with hope why not another noun (eyes)?

rajeevsingh

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #846 on: February 11, 2013, 05:31:07 AM »
Yes there are hundreds of words with which we are really confused even if we are corrected thousand times..

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #847 on: February 22, 2013, 03:00:50 PM »

1SO

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #848 on: February 22, 2013, 04:02:14 PM »

AAAutin

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #849 on: March 07, 2013, 11:00:08 PM »
Not to nitpick, but those aren't really acronyms, they are initialisms.

Hallelujah, FLY! (A true acronym.) Thank you.

Now if you could only convince people to stop referring to lecterns as podiums, you'd be my hero.