Asri-unix.1409 net.general utzoo!decvax!cca!kck@sri-unix Wed May 5 22:33:43 1982 The English Language The desecration of the English language on this net astounds me. I have always considered myself more technical than literary, but even I cannot abide the grammatic mangling perpetrated by correspondents on the net. Please do both yourself and me a favor: read *The Elements of Style* by Strunk and White. If you have already read it, read it again. If you do not know who you are, ask yourselves these questions: "Do I know the difference between effect and affect?", "Do I know the difference between 'between' and 'among'?", "Do I say 'if she was there' instead of 'if she were there'?", "Am I confused about the proper use of its versus it's?", "Do I always write sentences in the passive voice?", "Do I even know what the passive voice is?", etc. It really does not take much effort to write good English . Any of you capable of remembering half the syntax of 'C' are quite capable of remembering the basic rules of English grammar. Even if you do not care to improve your language skills, read the book; it makes for fascinating reading in its own right. Ken Klingman Pyramid Technology (kck@sri-unix, sri-unix!kck) ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.