Re: I won't be going to Bangkok :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
By the way instaly I've been careful not to [url=http://grammar.about.com/b/2008/03/26/prepositions-ending-sentences-with.htm]end any sentences with a preposition and I'm almost certain I haven't split any infinitives[
According to the following authoritative resources it would appear that you are living in the past, not a good thing for a so called journalist:
"The only rationale for condemning the [split infinitive] construction is based on a false analogy with Latin. The thinking is that because the Latin infinitive is a single word, the equivalent English construction should be treated as if it were a single unit. But English is not Latin, and distinguished writers have split infinitives without giving it a thought. Noteworthy splitters include John Donne, Daniel Defoe, George Eliot, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, William Wordsworth, and Willa Cather. Still, those who dislike the construction can usually avoid it without difficulty."
(The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000)
"It seemed that he had caught [the fish] himself, years ago, when he was quite a lad; not by any art or skill, but by that unaccountable luck that appears to always wait upon a boy when he plays the wag from school."
(Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, 1889)
"Split infinitives have been the cause of much controversy among teachers and grammarians, but the notion that they are ungrammatical is simply a myth: in his famous book Modern English Usage, Henry Fowler listed them among 'superstitions'!"
(AskOxford.com)
It was once a cherished superstition that prepositions must be kept true to their name and placed before the word they govern in spite of the incurable English instinct for putting them late. . . . Those who lay down the universal principle that final prepositions are "inelegant" are unconsciously trying to deprive the English language of a valuable idiomatic resource, which has been used freely by all our greatest writers except those whose instinct for English idiom has been overpowered by notions of correctness derived from Latin standards.
(A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Henry W. Fowler,
Re: I won't be going to Bangkok :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
I've been careful not to end any sentences with a preposition.
That's outdated academic nonsense.
Absolutely nothing wrong in ending with a preposition.
Re: I won't be going to Bangkok :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by instaly
Yes even an idiot knows that, or do you?.
But the fact that your were committing your badly thought out claims to a website where your words appear to all intents and purposes 'in print' I would have thought that would mean you would pay the same attention to getting it right as you would if it was going to the printed form.
Little wonder that you decline to name the news paper / agency/ bureau you are working for if you are working in Thailand illegally. It does make your 'holier than thou' attitude look rather condescending. It also does little for your credibilty if your employer is willing to employ illegal workers in the kingdom as it would appear to be an obviously down market 'rag' that is unable to pay for bona-fide journalists.
Perhaps he works for that well known Japanese newspaper, The Daily Kamikaze?