Grammar

[close] Our topic? The Teacher's Grammar of English and other topics of interest.

[close] “Do not use semicolons,” Kurt Vonnegut once said. “They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.” George Bernard Shaw said: "Not using semicolons is a symptom of mental defectiveness, probably induced by camp life." But whichever side of the semicolon divide you fall, please leave your opinions and views here, but be nice... at least try to be nice, because, after all, it's only punctuation?! About Me/Tom Conrad and why I set up this group: I used a fair few commas, dashes, exclamation marks and especially ellipses in my début novel, Rich Pickings For Ravens, but not one solitary semicolon. It's what inspired my latest novella, That Semicolon Bitch Had To Die.... I realised I hadn't used them, wondered why I didn't, was it purely coincidental or some previously dormant/unrealised prejudice lying deep within my unconscious. Anyway, I started to write That Semicolon Bitch Had To Die...., spoke to friends about semicolons, soon realising everyone seems to have a view, and I even found that beautiful quote by Kurt Vonnegut. All of which means, here I am, and here you are, maybe/hopefully. Shameless plug continuing - you can find my novella here: - That Semicolon Bitch Had To Die.... by Tom Conrad UK http://amzn.to/QvF8ss US http://amzn.to/QwmiVI

[close] The group will host links to my questions related to my literature readings posted and answered in the alt.usage.english (AUE) newsgroup of the Usenet over several years by literally hundreds of AUE members who have generously offered their time. Each link is centered on one author and drills down in the Google structure to the AUE threads related to a specific work by that author. Each thread typically addresses several issues about a passage from the work. My questions are mainly related to the language, grammar or cultural issues related to the work in question. The answers should be useful to the readers approaching that work, in that they discuss difficult words, expressions or constructs. Some questions are related to my own idiosyncrasies, but I estimate that the depth of "drilling down" might help many readers, whether they are new to the work or not. My grateful thanks to the participating AUE members. I hope this helps.

[close] Do you aspire to learn more about medical writing and the whole publication process? Well, I hope that this group will be a platform for that!