On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:56:26 -0600, A Muzi <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>>>>> John Thompson:
>>>>>> Not only that, they ignore the fact that many other countries, e.g.
>>>>>> the UK and Germany to mention only two, have been dealing with
>>>>>> terrorism for much longer than we have, and yet have managed to do so
>>>>>> without compromising their citizens' rights.
>
>>>> Bill Sornson wrote:
>>>>> Do a little research. HTH
>
>>> [email protected] wrote:
>>>> Beware of anyone who uses the phrase "the fact that" to establish some
>>>> concept. In English composition, this is known as begging the
>>>> question. Instead of the phrase, the circumstances that appear to
>>>> make the concept a "fact" need be explained.
>>>> "the fact that" belongs in the same trash bin that the other hackneyed
>>>> phrases recently mentioned went to their demise for thinking writers.
>
>> A Muzi <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Indeed, from Strunk, 'Elements of Style':
>>> "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary
>>> words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a
>>> drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary
>>> parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short,
>>> or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but
>>> that every word tell.
>>> Many expressions in common use violate this principle:
>>> -snip table-
>>> In especial the expression /the fact that/ should be revised out of
>>> every sentence in which it occurs."
>>> [italics original]
>>> I'm not exceptional at composition either.
>
>[email protected] wrote:
>> The fact that some posters have ended up quibbling over phrases that
>> they pretend to find offensive only exposes their lack of anything
>> relevant to say about the subject.
>
>The subject is a tarbaby I'm happy to not engage here. But, hey, a
>citation for an off-topic comment to an off-topic thread? Sure!
Dear Andrew,
Hopefully, the vast majority of us will pardon you for splitting that
infinitive.
The reason that Strunk & White is so short is that the book doesn't
waste any time telling you how to write an essay.
Instead, it urges endless revisions at the sentence level, such as
removing "The reason that" and "so" and "any" in the sentence above.
The book never raises its head to address anything above the sentence
level. (How to write an essay is a separate subject.)
Unfortunately, some people fall in love with revising sentences
because rewriting gives them a pleasant sense of superiority, and it's
easy to do--any sentence can be rephrased endlessly.
Of course, you can rewrite your own sentences without irritating
anyone, but revision can become an obnoxious obsession.
For example, some posters on RBT fondly imagine that they are English
teachers and that other posters are their students, whose style and
sentences must be corrected.
In extreme cases, a quibbler may even re-write his own book, sentence
by sentence, without much improvement--even unto a third edition.
In contrast, RBT's best writer is Chalo Colina.
Chalo writes clear sentences, and his posts are free from typos,
spelling mistakes, bad punctuation, and poor grammar.
But that's not what makes Chalo's posts so good.
Chalo's secret is his focus. He gives his main point the most space in
his post. He doesn't wander. When he's made his point, he quits.
(Unlike some of us, who can't resist parenthetic digressions and
trivia.)
A post from Chalo is an editor's dream. Whether you agree with him or
not, Chalo has a point and he makes it without getting sidetracked.
A quibbler will be more interested in removing the "or not" in the
previous sentence than in what the sentence says.
Who can imagine Chalo citing Strunk & White to justify nagging another
poster to omit those two words?
If Chalo disagrees with you, he doesn't waste much time quibbling
about how you expressed yourself. He addresses your point, which is
probably the best style.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel