General TE tips

[maillotpois]

What about capitals at the beginning of sentences? I've wondered if there are keyboards out there without a shift key.

Like MP, I am a terrible typist. Three fingers and a thumb on my right hand do most of the work. AND for some reason "the" often gets typed as "teh". Annoying.

Wanna have some fun... explain the difference between a subordinate clause and a coordinating clause to a fifth grader. Then convince them that although a sentence has a conjunction, it is not necessarily a compound or complex sentence.

V.

PS I do know that wanna really should be want to.

OMG - another 3 fingered typing freak!! We should have a club. Or a support group. (Yes, I know I should not start a sentence with a conjuction - and that that was a sentence fragment. "Conjunction junction, what's your function....?").

I also transpose letters, which can be a pain. I am also guilty of not capitalizing letters that should be capitalized when I am using my handheld. (Have you seen the size of my thumbs? You think typing with 3 fingers is tough.... )

[bikerz]

Oh, yes, I loved Ex Libris and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Especially the latter. My first degree is in anthropology, and the next two are in science/health care. The only thing wrong with that book is I didn't write it! If somebody ever offers to pay my bills and support me while I get a doctorate, I'll look at something like that.

You are so right! My first degree was in Anthro also! (Alas, propbably my only degree, unless I win the lottery and can pursue degrees for fun in comparative linguistics, Spanish lit, medical anthropology ... oh, so many things are interesting!)

My favorite is "reduplicate", which I know is a real word, but seems like it shouldn't be. Worse, "reduplicate again". I have a client who says this all the time. And another client says "flustrated" - maybe a cross between "flustered" and "frustrated".

I am totally loving this thread - I feel like you all are my long lost, three-fingered typing, language-freak family!

[KnottedYet]

I've come to view grammar as mere guidelines in my maturing years. Sometimes you want to follow the rules, sometimes what you want to communicate works better if you break the rules. (Sometimes I can't be bothered.)

Kinda like composing music in the key of C major, and tossing in a couple of accidentals. Those accidentals can say a lot.

I was a librarian in one of my former lives, and am the product of a fine lineage of librarians. I get far more disturbed by library books shelved out of call-number order than by grammar-as-creative-enterprise. If I can understand what someone is trying to say, then they have communicated successfully.

I read dictionaries for fun. Ain't kidding.

[KnottedYet]

If you want an exercise in medium vs. message, read "Push" by Sapphire.

Then read some Mary Oliver. You'll need to.

Do both communicate successfully? Compare and contrast, using the conventions of Strunk and White, single-sided and double-spaced, and return to me by next week. Yes, you in the back row with the headphones? No, you may not email your paper to me. You may deliver it to the department office or bring it to class. I must have it by Friday for you to recieve full credit.

P.S. Strunk and White cohabitate beautifully with Rhyme's Reason on my bookshelf. All they need is a complete OED for company. Hardbound, not CD. If I ever meet someone with a complete OED, I might just have to sleep with them. (the OED)

[SadieKate]

All they need is a complete OED for company. Hardbound, not CD. If I ever meet someone with a complete OED, I might just have to sleep with them. (the OED)

Whew, I only have the compact edition and haven't gotten any updates. I'm safe or maybe it's safe.

[maillotpois]

Whew, I only have the compact edition and haven't gotten any updates. I'm safe or maybe it's safe.

I've got the compact, too. My father in law has the complete (2 volume, tiny print, comes with magnifying glass....) I have envy.

[SadieKate]

Mine says compact but is 2 volume, tiny print, etc. Did they change format? Better not tell Knotted about your FIL.