― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 18 July 2003 01:16 (twenty years ago) link
It used to be gramatically acceptable to use a masculine pronoun (he, him, etc.) when referring to a person of unspecified gender (you know what I mean.. I can't think of any other way to put it), but now the "he or she"/"his or her" method is the proper form.
I'm not sure if it makes a difference whether you use a slash or the word "or." I suspect that the slash is unacceptable in formal writing.
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 18 July 2003 02:11 (twenty years ago) link
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Friday, 18 July 2003 02:33 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 18 July 2003 03:31 (twenty years ago) link
Unless it's academic writing, and it allows you to make a terrible pun somehow.
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:31 (twenty years ago) link
Proper, maybe. But it should be pointed out that if you're having to cram this into your sentence, you;re writing a clumsy sentence, and you should probably drop back and punt.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:34 (twenty years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:35 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:44 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:45 (twenty years ago) link
hyphensOur style is to use one word wherever possible, including some instances where a word might be hyphenated by other publications. Hyphens tend to clutter up text (particularly when the computer breaks already hyphenated words at the end of lines)
Inventions, ideas and new concepts often begin life as two words, then become hyphenated, before finally becoming accepted as one word. Why wait? "Wire-less" and "down-stairs" were once hyphenated. In pursuit of this it is preferable to go further than Collins does in many cases: eg trenchcoat is two words in Collins but one under our style
Never use hyphens after adverbs, eg politically naive, wholly owned. But do use them to form compound adjectives, eg two-tonne vessel, three-year deal
Do use hyphens where not using one would be ambiguous, eg to distinguish "black-cab drivers come under attack" from "black cab-drivers come under attack"
― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:54 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 03:45 (twenty years ago) link
Tracer, I read this as advocating the phrase "fact-checking" as a verb (sorry, should have made that clear) so thanks were in order!
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 04:16 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 04:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 09:43 (twenty years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 11:44 (twenty years ago) link
assuming i only have one brother, would it be acceptable to write, "I went with my brother Isaac to the store" or do i have to write, "I went with my brother, Isaac, to the store" ?
for some reason i am under the impression that non-essential info can be stuck in without commas as long as it is only one or two words. but apparently, this is wrong?
― j c (j c), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 1 October 2004 04:13 (nineteen years ago) link
(fun with nonessential elements)
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 1 October 2004 06:16 (nineteen years ago) link
'I went to the store with my brother Isaac.'
― Core of Sphagnum (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 1 October 2004 06:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 1 October 2004 12:17 (nineteen years ago) link
The evidence for “Americanization” of French culture is mixed, and its extent is impossible to measure, as culture is not easily definable, let alone quantifiable.
Please can you help me arrange it so it sounds better. Most importantly I need a more essay-register way of saying "let alone", but the whole sentence seems really clumsy still and I don't know how to fix it.
I hope there's someone around who can help. My head hurts.
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link
Culture is not easily definable, much less quantifiable. Thus, not only is the evidence for "Americanization" of French culture mixed, but its actual extent is impossible to measure.
?
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link
the "not only/but" thing is unnecessary
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Puddin'Head Miller (PJ Miller), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks all.
I just finished my essay, wahey!!
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 19:41 (nineteen years ago) link
I've decided to switch from a Jan 27, 1997 format to a 27 Jan 1997 format for dates because eliminating the extra comma helps the readability of some of my nastier sentences.
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 28 November 2004 20:46 (nineteen years ago) link
Here it is: "Although there are many different types of HLA proteins, each person has only a small, relatively unique set that is inherited from their parents."
Thanks much. And, uh, I'm on deadline, so hurry up!
― quincie, Monday, 2 May 2005 17:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Mad Puffin, Monday, 2 May 2005 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― diedre mousedropping (Dave225), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago) link
Although there are many different types of HLA proteins, individuals inherit from their parents only a small and relatively unique subset.
etc.
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago) link
"Although many different types of HLA proteins exist, each person inherits only a small, realtively unique set."
.. not sure if that meaning is accurate or not. You may want to clarify the sentence in that .. is only the inherited set small, or is the total set small?
― diedre mousedropping (Dave225), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link
You don't have to be a grammar/usage nazi to object to torture in all its forms, including wrt the language.
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link
Also, I want to kill the person who prompted Andrew's initial post.
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 2 May 2005 17:48 (nineteen years ago) link
So, any thoughts on "relatively unique?" Oh shit I'm an idiot, I just realized that is a great pun! Maybe I should keep it, then.
― quincie, Monday, 2 May 2005 18:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Ghost of Part in Parens Optional (Dan Perry), Monday, 2 May 2005 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
TS: ALL OF A SUDDEN VS. all of the sudden
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 19:53 (two years ago) link
Can I use "occasioned" like this?
the publication of X occasioned the first use of some new word
Note that the new word doesn't appear in X itself but appears in a review of X.
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Thursday, 30 June 2022 22:32 (one year ago) link
It's grammatical enough, and "occasioned" is certainly an accepted word, so I'd say 'yes' to your question.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, 30 June 2022 22:44 (one year ago) link
this usage is uncontroversially fine: if i was bored or being testy as an acitivist sub editor i might switch in "saw" or "led to" depending on context (context = nature of nearby sentences acc my picky sub self lol) viz "the publication of X saw the first use of some new word"/"the publication of X led to the first use of some new word"
gloss: if "occasioned" maybe possibly presents a micro-speedbump for a reader, i think "saw" presents none, while "led to" perhaps implies the fact you note, that the new word arrives a little later than X…
― mark s, Friday, 1 July 2022 13:26 (one year ago) link
you might also use "prompted"
but your sentence is fine as is imo
― budo jeru, Friday, 1 July 2022 15:03 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I think "occasioned" there is a little overwritten and that with a little bit of effort "led to" would be much more readable.
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Friday, 1 July 2022 16:31 (one year ago) link
saw (a young person) referred to as a 'third-generation holocaust survivor'
obviously the topic is fraught, but it seems like there should be a better way to describe someone whose grandparents survived the camps
― mookieproof, Thursday, 11 January 2024 01:55 (four months ago) link
A completely uncontroversial way to say that would be "a grandchild of Holocaust survivors."
And while - as mòokieproof says - it is fraught, it does seem a bit much to imply that you "survived" an event that you did not personally experience.
I am not, personally, a survivor of the Visigothic Sack of Rome, the Protestant Reformation, the Irish Potato Famine, the Trail of Tears, the American Revolution, the Civil War, or school desegregation.
Maybe (stretching this quite a bit) I have experienced some personal effects from the Cold War and/or the Vietnam War due to my parents' participation in them, but calling myself a "survivor" seems more like stolen valor than empathy and solidarity.
― CthulhuLululemon (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 11 January 2024 04:19 (four months ago) link