Comments for Arrant Pedantry

Comment on They and the Gender-Neutral Pronoun Dilemma by Jonathon

Jonathon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:03:20 +0000

I think that last part is the sticking point for a lot of people. Some people seem to feel that if anyone objects to a usage, then you should avoid the usage. As I said in that other post, I don’t think the peevers deserve to have that kind of power.

And like you said, maybe it’s not even much of a dilemma.

Comment on They and the Gender-Neutral Pronoun Dilemma by Catherine Barber

Catherine Barber — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:15:42 +0000

See my Comment re using ‘they/their’ or not on: http://www.arrantpedantry.com/2011/09/23/its-not-wrong-but-you-still-shouldnt-do-it-2/

I often can’t see what the dilemma is. To my mind: If it’s not totally wrong just USE it, if YOU feel okay doing this. And are prepared to take any flak from those who disapprove.

Comment on It’s Not Wrong, but You Still Shouldn’t Do It by Catherine Barber

Catherine Barber — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:51:31 +0000

I happily use ‘they’ and ‘their’ as a singular/gender-neutral pronoun. Simple reason being I don’t like the alternatives: ‘s/he’ ‘he or she’ or the lone ‘he’.
How are you supposed to pronounce ‘s/he’ anyway?
‘He or she’ sounds just plain annoying. And the lone ‘he’, well is just that. As if ‘she’ doesn’t exist.

I also happily use ‘hopefully’, ‘secondly’ ‘firstly’ – though, I hope, not too frequently. (In fact this is the first time I heard ‘it wasn’t wrong but one still shouldn’t do this’).

OK, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but suffice it to say: I shall carry on as before. One’s always going to displease SOMEbody along the line.

Comment on More on That by Jonathon

Jonathon — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:10:04 +0000

I’m not sure why I shouldn’t hold myself out as an editor, since it’s what I do for a living. This does not mean that my prose is perfect or error-free, of course. Editing your own writing is an entirely different beast from editing others’ writing. And then, of course, there’s the fact that I do this all in my free time.

Comment on More on That by Thierry

Thierry — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:11:27 +0000

I *think* what the previous commenter meant is this: it’s fine if you want to “write like a linguist, not like an editor,” which you obviously do, but don’t hold yourself out as an editor. I like the blog, by the way.

Comment on More on That by Jonathon

Jonathon — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:06:31 +0000

Agreed. Which makes me wonder if that’s evidence that than is really a preposition. What other conjunctions can be stranded like that?

Comment on More on That by The Ridger

The Ridger — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:17:01 +0000

While I agree that “The man than who I’m taller.” is awkward at best, “The man who I’m taller than” seems perfectly fine to me.

Comment on More on That by That which is restrictive « Sentence first

That which is restrictive « Sentence first — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:32:20 +0000

[...] a subsequent post, Arrant Pedantry unpacks the strange behaviour of relative clauses, especially that, and justifiably describes it as [...]

Comment on More on That by Eugene

Eugene — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:17:39 +0000

Write like a linguist, not like an editor.
Thanks for the aphorism, Grady.
How do editors write, anyway? Editors edit and writers write, don’t they?
Have you read “Syntax: A Functional-Typological Introduction” (2 volumes) by Talmy Givon? It’s not the tightest writing and there are lots of typos, but the analyses will change the way you think about language.

Comment on More on That by Jonathon

Jonathon — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:59:54 +0000

Michelle: Thanks!

Grady: Have you considered not reading my blog if it offends you so much? And for the record, if you have general comments, please use the contact form. Further off-topic comments and trolling will be deleted.