"hone through"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/27/2011 10:51 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>I am still looking for the plural antecedent for "them". Is knowledge
>plural?
>DanG

The construction is jarring, but after slight discomfort I took the
antecedent(s) to be the "fundamentals" and "advanced culinary
techniques and skills" of the preceding sentence, not a plural
"knowledge" for the closest antecedent.

Joel


>On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:37 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "hone through"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 4/27/2011 12:25 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> > >On 4/26/2011 11:52 PM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
> > >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >>-----------------------
> > >>Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >>Poster:       Herb Stahlke<hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> > >>Subject:      "hone through"
> >
> > >>----------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------
> > >>
> > >>I found the following odd usage of "hone" on the Kendall College web
> > >>site.  The first 100 google hits for "hone through" show no other
> > >>examples of this usage.   There were a lot of examples of "hone
> > >>through" in the sense of running a hone through something and a lot of
> > >>misspellings for "bone," "shone," "phone," etc..  There were a number
> > >>of instances of honing skills through practice, and that seems a
> > >>likely route by which this example arose.
> > >>
> > >>"At Kendall, we start with the fundamentals, then incorporate advanced
> > >>culinary techniques and skills. Students hone through this knowledge
> > >>by practicing them in real-world environments beyond the classroom,
> > >>including the two Kendall restaurants and through mandatory
> > >>internships."
> > >>http://culinary.kendall.edu/academics/aas-culinary-arts/
> > >>   ....
> > >--
> > >
> > >I can't be sure, but I suspect this is gibberish from a cut-and-paste
> > >error or similar boo-boo. I would expect "Students hone their/these
> > >skills by practicing them ..." or something like that. ("Hone their
> > >skills" seems a popular phrase in such contexts.)
> > >
> > >The above text seemingly has been on the page since 2009 (per Wayback),
> > >but probably these 'blurbs' are not often read critically.
> > >
> > >-- Doug Wilson
> >
> > Or a confusion with "home in on"?  Although "practicing" is not "home
> > in on" to me.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org