You mean the wrong kind of flatulence, sounds like.Not incorrect. Just useless. It's just "among," with a little flatulence.
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You mean the wrong kind of flatulence, sounds like.Not incorrect. Just useless. It's just "among," with a little flatulence.
Some writer named Stephen King, in adopting language from some writer named William Faulkner, said, “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”...and it's a struggle to kill any of my babies.
Some things have changed, perhaps tons of them have. I'm unlearning a lot of things, I hope.
That's the reference. I've never really had that much trouble reducing my writing. It started in college with my essays. That's when I realized I must be a minimalist. I like the most effect from the fewest words, kind of like literary nutrient density.Some writer named Stephen King, in adopting language from some writer named William Faulkner, said, “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
It's second nature to single space now when I'm typing manuscripts but still revert to double spacing otherwise more often than not. Reducing the comma usage has been a struggle for me, too.Comma usage has definitely changed from when I was in school. Printed text has far fewer now. The most difficult thing I've had to unlearn is double spacing between sentences. My hand does it automatically, but industry standard now is a single space.
See? You remember about the comma before the "too" at the end of a sentence. I started realizing that I used way too many commas while reading sK. I kept thinking there's supposed to be a comma there, no? It took me a while to be able to read sK without a little confusion because of that.It's second nature to single space now when I'm typing manuscripts but still revert to double spacing otherwise more often than not. Reducing the comma usage has been a struggle for me, too.
I've never really had that much trouble reducing my writing.
I took typing class about 1968, so it's been a 40-plus-year habit. But two things save me:Comma usage has definitely changed from when I was in school. Printed text has far fewer now. The most difficult thing I've had to unlearn is double spacing between sentences. My hand does it automatically, but industry standard now is a single space.
HAHA! I'm a compuphobe, so that's not as easy as it sounds for me Reformatting is an exercise in fear and trembling.I took typing class about 1968, so it's been a 40-plus-year habit. But two things save me:
1) I don't have work worthy of publishing, so it's not an issue. And
2) With one "replace" command, I can change all double spaces in the document to a single space, so a manuscript full of spacing sin is wiped clean. Sorta like a literary baptism.
I simply resist learning.HAHA! I'm a compuphobe, so that's not as easy as it sounds for me Reformatting is an exercise in fear and trembling.
I'm from Kentucky and made my mind up at around the age of 10 that I would write and speak correctly, no matter how everyone else around me talked! I had gone to Ohio to visit friends, and some neighbors asked my name. "Dana," I said. "Hi, Dinah, nice to meet you," they said. After that vacation, I made sure I changed my accent so that I sounded very northern. I quit using "y'all" and I started putting Gs on the ends of words like "walking" instead of "walkin." I say, "Fine," instead of "Fahn." When someone meets me for the first time, they never can guess where I'm from.Spidey, Ha ha. Try being married to someone from Kentucky....My husband uses that word all the time. (it isn't even a word grr) No offense to all of the southerners here!
Finally, an editor made my day.HAHA! I'm a compuphobe, so that's not as easy as it sounds for me Reformatting is an exercise in fear and trembling.
I have a similar story. I was born in an area of Florida which did not include a southern accent. Dad was from Ohio and Mom from Maryland. Dad was transferred to Atlanta GA. Our neighborhood ended up with families from all over the place, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Wisconsin. I'm not sure about the adults, but the kids learned tolerance and the lesson was easy. There were eight boys around the same age, two perfect four-man teams for all sports. I don't remember any of my friends speaking southern.I'm from Kentucky and made my mind up at around the age of 10 that I would write and speak correctly, no matter how everyone else around me talked! I had gone to Ohio to visit friends, and some neighbors asked my name. "Dana," I said. "Hi, Dinah, nice to meet you," they said. After that vacation, I made sure I changed my accent so that I sounded very northern. I quit using "y'all" and I started putting Gs on the ends of words like "walking" instead of "walkin." I say, "Fine," instead of "Fahn." When someone meets me for the first time, they never can guess where I'm from.
This is true, but an author will write how a given character will speak. Also, I believe there're certain exceptions allowed in English for slang as acceptable, if not technically so.I notice this mistake all the time, even in SK's books:
There's several people who believe me.
You would never say There is several people who believe me, so if you're going to use a contraction here, it must be the contraction for there are (there're).
Yes, I don't mind grammar errors and slang in dialogue, but in the narrative it grates on me.This is true, but an author will write how a given character will speak. Also, I believe there're certain exceptions allowed in English for slang as acceptable, if not technically so.
But if it's one of the accepted "errors" then it's not an error. I really dunno in the case of there's whether or not it's considered acceptable. But your point is well-taken, imho.Yes, I don't mind grammar errors and slang in dialogue, but in the narrative it grates on me.
As tightly wound on rules as I must seem to be now, this particular transgression doesn't bother me because, even though it's incorrect, it's easier on the ear.I notice this mistake all the time, even in SK's books:
There's several people who believe me.
You would never say There is several people who believe me, so if you're going to use a contraction here, it must be the contraction for there are (there're).
Players of the SKMB game The Person Below Me (TPBM) are forced to do this - to use their or they even though in reference to a single individual - since no player necessarily knows the gender of the next person to play, and since we universally refuse to be forced into a disruptive-sounding rule. To use the plural with the singular, though technically incorrect, simply sounds more acceptable, and so is.As tightly wound on rules as I must seem to be now, this particular transgression doesn't bother me because, even though it's incorrect, it's easier on the ear.
It's sort of like saying, "I wish that someone would take this corpse away, and they could keep it in their freezer for all I care." "Someone" is singular. "They" is plural. (You see the talent I have for stating the obvious?) They don't agree. But since we don't have a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun that works (other than the abominable "(s)he" or "she/he," which I translate to "she/he/it," which I then abbreviate to "sh/it"), we blend the number disagreement.
When I see a contraction like "there're," I start to think of sentences like, "There're rarer horrors than Aurora," and both my ears and tongue start to hurt. Although it would be a good (if painful) sentence for Japanese students to practice their English phonetics on.