Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 09:41:06 +0530 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: "Thomas M. Sommers" <tms2@mail.ptd.net> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: BSDCon East Message-ID: <20000413094106.B1701@theory8.physics.iisc.ernet.in> In-Reply-To: <38F51B1B.A37CD69A@mail.ptd.net>; from tms2@mail.ptd.net on Wed, Apr 12, 2000 at 08:55:55PM -0400 References: <200004122318.TAA00470@server.baldwin.cx> <38F51B1B.A37CD69A@mail.ptd.net>
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> > Our object is to cement trade relations further. > > > > There, what's ambiguous about that? :) > > "It does not add to a writer's readableness if readers are pulled up now > and again to wonder--Why this distortion? Ah, to be sure, a non-split > die-hard." Fowler, p. 580. > > Fowler splits the English-speaking world into 5 groups, the first of > which includes those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive > is. Of this group he says: "Those who neither know nor care are the > vast majority, and are a happy folk, to be envied by most of the > minority classes. 'To really understand' comes readier to their lips > and pens than 'really to understand'; they see no reason why they should > not say it (small blame to them, seeing that reasons are not their > critics' strong point), and they do say it, to the discomfort of some > among us, but not to their own." Fowler is fun to read. Kingsley Amis (in a book called, I think, "The King's English") points out how this anti-split-infinitive sentiment spills over to other constructions too: he cites some such sentence as "It is rare to find someone totally being honest" (I don't remember his example) and continues, "The seasoned campaigner will sniff in the air and smell someone who dislikes split infinitives" or words to that effect. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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