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JUN 27

RANDOM ENGLISH RANT 3

Hatkirby

Okay, these appear to be becoming regular, lol :P. Anyway, today's topic is on ABUSED-AS-A-CHILD COMMAS. No, seriously, I mean COMMAS THAT ARE USED INCORRECTLY OR NOT AT ALL. Some examples:

Notice that when the orb in motion comes in contact with a stationary orb, it reduces the counter on the stationary orb by 1. Once an orb's counter reaches 0 it explodes and is removed from play, and you receive 1 point for doing so. This is the only way to earn points.

Jay Is Games

Read that bolded part out loud. Seriously. Is there no pause after the zero? Replace the number with a word and it'll become clearer. "Once an orb's counter reaches zero it explodes." There should be a pause in there because "Once an orb's counter reaches zero" is like the cause and "it explodes" is the result. "Once an orb's counter reaches zero, it explodes." Aw, how lovely. Here's an example of the opposite:

Every widget is derived from GtkWidget. This means, changes to the properties of GtkWidget will effect all widgets. Furthermore many other widgets have "parent widgets". For example properties of GtkButton will also be applied to GtkCheckButton unless it is explicitly stated otherwise.

Gnome Live!

That pause between "this means" and "changes to the properties of GtkWidget will effect all widgets" is ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY!!!! OH MY GOD! brain explosion I'm very sorry, I'm just VERY easily annoyed by what I consider poor English, which may also be considered perfectly normal English by those who aren't insane. Who? Oh, and by the way, it's "affect", not "effect". Pwned.

Hatkirby on
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Comments

  • The first one could be used either way - it reads pretty well with or without the comma.
  • In the first example, perhaps "that" would be more appropriate than the comma.
  • There is no such thing as "poor" English. You just made every English Language student in Victoria pick up their torches, pitchforks, and "PRESCRIPTIVIST" branding irons :P.
  • While it technically could be "effect", in this case I think that you are correct in saying it should be "affect".
tamasys on June 30th, 2010 at 1:10:18am

I actually prefer it without the comma. I don't like it when people, decide, to pause every three words. There are two reasons why people pause frequently: they can't think more than three words ahead (aka my sister), or they are trying to use a convoluted and overly complex sentence (aka all 19th Century publishing). Tamasys, there certainly such a thing as "poor" English. The role of language is a tool of communication. Language that is complex and convoluted is hard to understand. When language becomes hard to understand, it fulfils its role as a tool of communication quite poorly. Simple language, or even "wrong" language is not really poor language if it is easily understood. Neither of those examples are examples of bad language, because they are perfectly understandable by the target audience. Good grammar does not effect good language ;)

Bluemonkey on June 30th, 2010 at 2:36:59am

I'd like to hear you convince Ms Balwan that there is such a thing as "poor" English :P. And while I somewhat agree with you on that point, that isn't really what HK meant to begin with.

tamasys on June 30th, 2010 at 3:36:49am

The first one sounds way too rushed to me, like "ONCE AN ORB'S COUNTER REACHES ZERO IT EXPLODES breathes heavily". And whut? "Once an orb's counter reaches zero that it explodes?" What does that mean? Third, I did say "WHAT I CONSIDER poor English", and we all know I'm mentally insane, so it works out. :P And I am obviously correct about affect. :P

Hatkirby on July 22nd, 2010 at 2:24:45pm
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