Grammar Nazi

[blunthead]

Okay, anyone catch Fox's The Last Man on Earth? I watched some of that. It's okay; an interesting concept.

But there's a character on it, at least in the first episode, that corrects another character for ending sentences with a preposition. It actually was fun to listen to her rewriting statements and making them sound odd (although correct).

Which brings me to the following. Did I do this right? Here is a paragraph from a post I wrote in another section of the board:

"And it's funny, I'm a big fan of the found-footage genre in movies. Many people despise that genre, but I like it. For some reason, I find the epistolary (?) sections of Carrie intriguing and genuinely entertaining. The entire story could almost be related in that manner and successfully convey a higher level of satisfaction than of which the novel as we know it is capable."

Did I write the last sentence properly? It reads strange. Originally I was going to write:

"The entire story could almost be related in that manner and successfully convey a higher level of satisfaction than the novel as we know it is capable of."

I suppose a better way to write it would be:

"The entire story could almost be related in that manner and successfully convey a higher level of satisfaction than the novel as we know it is capable."

But if I want to retain the prepositional structure, did I at least write it, albeit wordily, correctly?

What I've underlined is a properly worded sentence. The other two aren't. The second one is different only via the "of" at the end, which does not belong; the earlier "of" does that job. Compare the correct sentence with your first one to see the differences.

 

[Neesy]

What I've underlined is a properly worded sentence. The other two aren't. The second one is different only via the "of" at the end, which does not belong; the earlier "of" does that job. Compare the correct sentence with your first one to see the differences.

"The entire story could almost be related in that manner and successfully convey a higher level of satisfaction than the novel as we know it is capable."
What if you simply omitted the last two words i.e. "is capable". Wouldn't that sound better?

"The entire story could almost be related in that manner and successfully convey a higher level of satisfaction than the novel as we know it."

 

[Moderator]

Potential offense...

Spoiler

What thread would you like these moved to because if they're grammar mistakes, I'm not seeing them?

 

[blunthead]

What thread would you like these moved to because if they're grammar mistakes, I'm not seeing them?

The first one uses the word "alike" instead of "like". The others don't contain mistakes, just plays on words. You can delete them if you like. I'll only post grammar mistakes in this thread from now on.

 

[KingAHolic]

 

[blunthead]

 

[blunthead]

 

[blunthead]

Restrictive Clause vs. Non-restrictive Clause
That’s right, it all comes down to these two kinds of clauses.

A restrictive clause acts as an adjective to modify the subject of the sentence. The restrictive clause is essential to the sentence because it provides information that, if taken out, changes the subject of the sentence completely. A restrictive clause is always preceded by that. Here are a few examples:

The ring that she had custom-made was stolen from the vault.
Circus animals that aren’t in cages scare me.
Personal computers that utilize retina displays are great for graphic designers.

A restrictive clause is never placed between punctuation.

A nonrestrictive clause typically contains optional information on the subject that isn’t entirely necessary to the sentence. In other words, if you remove a nonrestrictive clause from a sentence, the subject of the sentence remains unaffected. A nonrestrictive clause is usually preceded by which (if a pronoun is used at all). Here are a few examples:

The ring, which was part of a custom jewelry set, was stolen from the vault.
Circus animals, which sometimes make cute pets, are rather expensive.
Personal computers, which were actually invented in 1964, have come quite a long way.

A nonrestrictive clause is usually placed between commas, dashes, or parentheses.


Remember: if your sentence needs it, then you’ve written a restrictive clause, and you should use that. If the clause gives a little extra, unnecessary information, then you’ve written a nonrestrictive clause, and you should use which.

 

[blunthead]

Spoiler

 

[blunthead]

 

[blunthead]

 

[blunthead]

 

[blunthead]

 

[KingAHolic]

apparently, neither do spelling lessons.....

 

[blunthead]

apparently, neither do spelling lessons.....

Feedom isn't free, too.

 

[AnnaMarie]

Taylor Swift schools Princeton.

Princeton Review tries, and fails, to use Taylor Swift in SAT question

 

[blunthead]

» 2 Effective Ways to Deal with Whoever/Whomever Confusion

 

[blunthead]

To and too get me. Too means also, but it also indicates excess.

It takes practice.

 

[Walter Oobleck]

Had someone make...or paint...on a sweatshirt...my name plus "contruction". I wore it. Another time, a sign painter was looking at the bug shield on the front of my truck...my name plus construction...and he said they painted this upside down and backwards. Huh? How can you tell? They painted the "C" upside down he noted, and after studying it for a bit, I realized he was right, the C was upside down...though I was still unsure how he determined the method.

 

[KingAHolic]