Today's non sequitur

[Jonathan Lighter]

I should have made it clear that the Menendez reference was in the middle
of the top seven grammar rules that Ben Yagoda urges you not to worry
about.

http://news.yahoo.com/7-bogus-grammar-errors-dont-worry-060000215.html;_ylt=AjENyPMIkSrfcxTBKi.G6fzQtDMD

The made-up rule against split infinitives had long been exploded by the
time I took my first linguistics course in 1970.

JL

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 9:59 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Today's non sequitur
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Did Yahoo News give a source?  David Mulroy made this case in his *War
> against Grammar* (Heinemann 2003).
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Today's non sequitur
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > From Yahoo! News: The Week:
> >
> > The rule against splitting infinitives =97 that is, putting an adverb
> > betwe=
> > en
> > the word *to* and a verb =97 was pretty much made up out of whole cloth
> by
> > early 19-century grammarians, apparently because they felt the proper
> model
> > for English was Latin, and in Latin, infinitive-splitting is impossible.
> > However, English is not Latin, and infinitives have been profitably split
> > by many great writers, from Hemingway ("But I would come back to where it
> > pleases me to live; to really live") to Gene Rodenberry  ("to boldly go
> > where no man has gone before"). It's okay to boldly do it.
> >
> > SEE MORE: Prostitute claims she made up accusations against Sen. Robert
> > Menendez.
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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