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JeJuJitsu
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Location: McDonald's
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 Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:33 am Post subject: English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modifier |
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ALLS CHURCH, VA�Recalling that it was her first date since September 2005, high-school English teacher Melanie Fitzgerald thought it prudent to overlook the grammatical errors of dinner date Aaron McPherson on Monday. "I really had to bite my tongue when he said, 'After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable,'" said Fitzgerald, recounting her date's response to her five-minutes-late arrival. "I kept telling myself to give him the benefit of the doubt, even after he said, 'Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward.' " Friends of Fitzgerald have advised her to continue disregarding McPherson's poor grammar and instead focus on his character, which sounds like that of a complete asshole
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55168 |
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superacidjax
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I defy anyone to end a sentence with a preposition. Dangling modifiers are one thing.. but a sentence ending with a preposition is grounds for divorce! |
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JeJuJitsu
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Location: McDonald's
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| superacidjax wrote: |
| I defy anyone to end a sentence with a preposition. Dangling modifiers are one thing.. but a sentence ending with a preposition is grounds for divorce! |
I had to walk through the park? |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable |
| Quote: |
| 'Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward |
I can't work out what is wrong with these. Someone walk me through it... |
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mateomiguel
Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable |
There's no subject in this sentence. Who canceled dinner plans? Who got stuck in traffic? 
Its a dangling modifier.
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| Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward |
Its misuse of the word being. You should use because in place of that. "Because I am nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward." or "I can come off a bit awkward because I am nervous sometimes."
Am I good or what? |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| There's no subject in this sentence. Who canceled dinner plans? |
Aren't "dinner plans" the subject?
I am probably the worst grammarite in Korea though. |
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Kwangjuchicken
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Location: I was abducted by aliens on my way to Korea and forced to be an EFL teacher on this crazy planet.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject: Re: English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modi |
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| JeJuJitsu wrote: |
ALLS CHURCH, VA�Recalling that it was her first date since September 2005, high-school English teacher Melanie Fitzgerald thought it prudent to overlook the grammatical errors of dinner date Aaron McPherson on Monday. "I really had to bite my tongue when he said, 'After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable,'" said Fitzgerald, recounting her date's response to her five-minutes-late arrival. "I kept telling myself to give him the benefit of the doubt, even after he said, 'Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward.' " Friends of Fitzgerald have advised her to continue disregarding McPherson's poor grammar and instead focus on his character, which sounds like that of a complete *beep*
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55168 |
Perhaps it was his character that made her feel this way about his sentence. In my opinion (not knowing anything except the sentence in question) I would say his sentence is not only correct, but also very high style and elegant. It, however, might also sound too much like a sentence from TOEIC or TOEFL. |
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Kwangjuchicken
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Location: I was abducted by aliens on my way to Korea and forced to be an EFL teacher on this crazy planet.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| mateomiguel wrote: |
| Quote: |
| After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable |
[size=18]There's no subject in this sentence. Who canceled dinner plans? Who got stuck in traffic?[/size]
Its a dangling modifier.
| Quote: |
| Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward |
Its misuse of the word being. You should use because in place of that. "Because I am nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward." or "I can come off a bit awkward because I am nervous sometimes."
Am I good or what? |
You must remember that the sentence in question came from a private conversation between two people. And, as such, there would be no mystery.
For example, if I said I told my friend yesterday, "Better late than never". You do not know if I was late or if my friend was late. |
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Kwangjuchicken
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Location: I was abducted by aliens on my way to Korea and forced to be an EFL teacher on this crazy planet.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:46 pm Post subject: Re: English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modi |
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| JeJuJitsu wrote: |
ALLS CHURCH, VA�Recalling that it was her first date since September 2005, high-school English teacher Melanie Fitzgerald thought it prudent to overlook the grammatical errors of dinner date Aaron McPherson on Monday. "I really had to bite my tongue when he said, 'After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable,'" said Fitzgerald, recounting her date's response to her five-minutes-late arrival. "I kept telling myself to give him the benefit of the doubt, even after he said, 'Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward.' " Friends of Fitzgerald have advised her to continue disregarding McPherson's poor grammar and instead focus on his character, which sounds like that of a complete *beep*
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55168 |
I just read the article. Was it the English teacher or the person who wrote the article who said, "five minutes late arrival"? Here, minutes is a noun being uses as an adjective. Thus, because in English, unlike in many languages, adjectives do NOT agree in number nor gender with the noun they modify, there should be no "s". Again, looks like the section in TOEFL where you have to find the mistake. And, the mistake is no "s" on minutes.  |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| It's from the Onion, it's not real. You don't need to worry about it. |
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pastis
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable |
| khyber wrote: |
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| There's no subject in this sentence. Who canceled dinner plans? |
Aren't "dinner plans" the subject? |
No because then "canceling" would have to be a participle acting as an adjective, which would not make any sense in that context. Presumably the subject is supposed to be whoever (i.e. a person, not mentioned in the sentence) got stuck in traffic, but the grammatical ambiguity arises from the fact that "dinner plans" could indeed conceivably be the subject (it wouldn't be grammatically incorrect, just totally absurd). "Dinner plans" (of the "canceling" variety) don't usually get stuck in traffic...
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| I am probably the worst grammarite in Korea though |
I hope your post wasn't sarcastic, or my earnest explanation makes me look like a schmuck  Oh, and that's "grammarian" (while we're on it).
Last edited by pastis on Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Lizara
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| "I can come off a bit awkward"... shouldn't it either be, "I can come off as being a bit awkward" or "I can come off a bit awkwardly?" (Although the second sentence sounds awkward itself.) |
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seoulkitchen
Joined: 28 Dec 2004
Location: Hub of Asia, my ass!
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| superacidjax wrote: |
| I defy anyone to end a sentence with a preposition. Dangling modifiers are one thing.. but a sentence ending with a preposition is grounds for divorce! |
I was in a tunnel, and I walked all the way through.
It was my wife he was making love with.
The box wasn't under the table, it was on.....
etc.....
Do I get my divorce? |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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No because then "canceling" would have to be a participle acting as an adjective, which would not make any sense in that context. Presumably the subject is supposed to be whoever (i.e. a person, not mentioned in the sentence) got stuck in traffic, but the grammatical ambiguity arises from the fact that "dinner plans" could indeed conceivably be the subject (it wouldn't be grammatically incorrect, just totally absurd). "Dinner plans" (of the "canceling" variety) don't usually get stuck in traffic...
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I just BARELY understood that...and I completely missed the first sentence.
Thanks though. I tHINK I may have learned something.
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I hope your post wasn't sarcastic, or my earnest explanation makes me look like a schmuck Oh, and that's "grammarian" (while we're on it). |
The post was sincere. The "grammarite" comment was sarcastic though....but you didn't know. |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| mateomiguel wrote: |
| Quote: |
| After getting stuck in traffic this evening, canceling dinner plans would have been completely understandable |
There's no subject in this sentence. Who canceled dinner plans? Who got stuck in traffic?
Its a dangling modifier.
| Quote: |
| Being nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward |
Its misuse of the word being. You should use because in place of that. "Because I am nervous sometimes, I can come off a bit awkward." or "I can come off a bit awkward because I am nervous sometimes."
Am I good or what? |
I get the first one, no subject. The second one I can't really see why "being" can't be used there. |
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