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orosee
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul
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 Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't this a question where the problem is more interesting than its solution?
Just do a quick search on this site or on Google general for the term "grammer" and you'll see that there are more urgent problems that need to be solved 
To the OP, even as a non-native speaker I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this matter but my life dictates that I better use the "than those of" cop-out  |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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| orosee wrote: |
| Just do a quick search on this site or on Google general for the term "grammer" and you'll see that there are more urgent problems that need to be solved |
Like how to spell "grammar". |
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orosee
Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Underwaterbob wrote: |
| orosee wrote: |
| Just do a quick search on this site or on Google general for the term "grammer" and you'll see that there are more urgent problems that need to be solved |
Like how to spell "grammar". |
Which was my point.
Did you make the search? Depressing result. |
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rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| orosee wrote: |
| Isn't this a question where the problem is more interesting than its solution? |
The was generally the idea. But some people, apparently, are a bit lacking when it comes to inference skills.
Odd that a non-native speaker would pick up on that and not his/ her potential teachers. 
But, no, a web search alone wouldn't explain the irony of the apostrophe rule (custom?). |
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JustinC
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
Location: We Are The World!
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| orosee wrote: |
| Underwaterbob wrote: |
| orosee wrote: |
| Just do a quick search on this site or on Google general for the term "grammer" and you'll see that there are more urgent problems that need to be solved |
Like how to spell "grammar". |
Which was my point.
Did you make the search? Depressing result. |
I don't know, I rather like 'Frasier'. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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I'll play devil's advocate.
Burger King's burgers are better than McDonald's [burgers].
It's bending the rules of the standard comparative sentence structure, but I'm regarding "McDonald's" here as an adjective.
ex: Tim's burgers are better than the charred hunks of crap you get from McDonald's.
There's no cut and dry parallelism in that sentence. Is it wrong? Is it a different case? |
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rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:02 am Post subject: |
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| Apparently you should read the other posts before playing devil's advocate. |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:54 am Post subject: |
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| rchristo10 wrote: |
| Apparently you should read the other posts before playing devil's advocate. |
I did read the other posts. I agree with the vast majority of the other sources, it's best to avoid the structure entirely.
But thanks for being condescending. |
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The Cosmic Hum
Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:29 am Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
I'll play devil's advocate.
Burger King's burgers are better than McDonald's [burgers].
It's bending the rules of the standard comparative sentence structure, but I'm regarding "McDonald's" here as an adjective.
ex: Tim's burgers are better than the charred hunks of crap you get from McDonald's.
There's no cut and dry parallelism in that sentence. Is it wrong? Is it a different case? |
I like it.
I think it is best to challenge any prescriptive grammar rule at any time it falls short of its ability to be useful.
It isn't a question of trying to break old rules just to be rebellious...it is a matter of making them more flexible to fit the language of the times.
We are not slaves to prescriptive grammar.
Grammar is a tool...and can and must be refined from time to time.
Keep pressing the boundaries and the language will keep improving. |
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