Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

AnWulf

Member Since

June 19, 2011

Total number of comments

616

Total number of votes received

580

Bio

Native English speaker. Conversant in German, Russian, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.

Ferþu Hal!

I hav a pilot's license (SEL certificate); I'm a certified diver (NAUI); I'v skydived and was qualified as a paratrooper in the Army (Airborne!); I was a soldier (MI, Armor, Engineer).

I workt for a corporation, was a law enforcement officer, and a business owner.

Bachelor's in Finance; minor in Economics
Masters of Aeronautical Sciences

Strong backer of English spelling reform.

Browncoat

Now I'v written my first novel [ http://www.lulu.com/shop/lt-wolf/the-world-king-book-i-the-reckoning/ebook/product-22015788.html ] and I'm working on others.

http://lupussolus.typad.com
http://lupussolusluna.blogspot.com
http://anwulf.blogspot.com

Latest Comments

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • November 4, 2011, 6:18pm

@Mediator ... LOL ... then what would you say about "tungful"? ... That's on OE word ... care to guess?

tungful - talkative ... I know that a lot of talkative folks spout a lot of dung but somehow I don't think that is the meaning of the word.

"O.E. tunge "organ of speech, speech, language," from P.Gmc. *tungon (cf. O.S., O.N. tunga, O.Fris. tunge, M.Du. tonghe, Du. tong, O.H.G. zunga, Ger. Zunge, Goth. tuggo) ... The substitution of M.E. -o- for O.E. -u- before -m- or -n- was a ***scribal habit*** (cf. some, monk, etc.) to avoid misreading the letters in the old style hand, which jammed them together; and the spelling of the ending of the word apparently is a 14c. attempt to indicate proper pronunciation, but the result is "neither etymological nor phonetic, and is only in a very small degree historical" [OED]."

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • November 4, 2011, 5:16pm

LOL ... It's truly onefold (simple) ... I will shove back at least as hard as I am shoved ... often harder. I'm bendable (flexible) when it comes to many things. I don't care if you brook pleaded or pled; dived or dove; sneaked or snuck. Only don't get on your soapbox and tell me (or others) that one is "wrong", "ugly", or not "elegant". I'll kick that box right out from under you.

Even more so when it is truly silly things like not ending a sentence with a preposition. I will tell you that it is silly and tell you why it is silly (and have done so above). I don't care if you want to sound dry and stilted, but if you insist that it is "wrong", "ugly", or not "elegant" for others, then I will likely have to come down on you hard ... and I will. I make no apologies for that.

The thing about writing on a forum is that it is hard to get over the mood. What I (or someone else) may write in a lighthearted ... but sarcastic ... manner might not be taken in the lighthearted way that it was ettled. And yes, I am sarcastic. I do try to hold it back but it still slips out even more so when I'm coming down on someone.

Anent the word tung ... What is it that you think that I don't know about it? Is it the spelling that you don't like or that I brook it for the Latinate word language?

OE - tunge f. (m) speech, language ... in OE likely said as tun-ge. It's one syllable now so no need for the "e" unless you want to make the 'u' long ... toong! But if you want to spell it tunge ... I'm good with that. The "tongue" is the one that needs to go.

ME - tŏng(e), also tongge, tonghe, tongue, tonke, tounge, toungue, tung(e) ... and sundry others. - The spoken or written language of a country, region, etc.; a language ... asf. The optional 'e' betokens that it was likely said as both one and two syllables ... not amazing in ME ... things were changing.

Cristen men owe moche to traueile ny3t and day aboute text of holy writ, and namely the gospel in her modir tunge.

Hise tunges ende is brent ðor-mide. (Dang ... there's that dangling preposition way back then!)

BTW ... good brooking of "gainsay"! :)

“Anglish”

  • November 4, 2011, 3:32pm

Everyone should know most of these 50 and the 30 or more that I added in the comments.

AnWulf

50 Words with the Most Whimsical Prefix
by Mark Nichol
The prefix be- has a variety of interesting roles in language:

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/50-words-with-the-most-whimsical-prefix

“Anglish”

  • November 4, 2011, 4:21am

Tenses from OE
future - tóweardnes f ... towardness

past tense - forðgewiten tíd/tíma ... (forðgewîtan - to go forth, pass, proceed, go by: depart, die. ... forðgewitenes f. departure)

past - adj beleorendlic ... beleoran - to pass by, pass over.

present – andweard adj (andward ... anward/onward?) ...and- = an-, on-, ond- (opposition, negation. Ger. ent-): and occasionally a-.

present time - andweardnes f

“Anglish”

  • November 4, 2011, 3:19am

@Jayles ... I'm still working getting folks to brook asf (and so forth) instead of etc. and fb (for byspel) instead of eg! I've been using lk for liken instead of cf (?) or cp for compare. But yoked (yoking) and yokeless makes more sense than transitive and intransitive ... those words always make me stop and think.

Anent threap ... This is from the Webster's:

Threap \Threap\, n.
An obstinate decision or determination; a pertinacious affirmation.

He was taken a threap that he would have it finished before the year was done. -Carlyle.

Threap \Threap\ v. t. [imp. & p. p. Threaped; p.
pr. & vb. n. Threaping.]

1. To call; to name. [Obs.]
2. To maintain obstinately against denial or contradiction;
also, to contend or argue against (another) with
obstinacy; to chide; as:

He threaped me down that it was so. --Burns.

3. To beat, or thrash.
4. To cozen, or cheat.

Threap \Threap\, v. i.
To contend obstinately; to be pertinacious.

It's not for a man with a woman to threap. --Percy's Reliques.

--- More byspels:

“"I weant say that I's fain to see you, but I've no call to threap wi 'waller-lads.” Tales of the Ridings
“The reply was, “Yo’d better not; he’d threap yo’ down th’ loan.” The Life of Charlotte Bronte

Enter in..and haf þi wyf wyth þe, Þy þre sunez, withouten þrep. (Enter in..and have the wife with thee, thy three sons, without threap.) ... withouten ~, without argument; without opposition.

Strife, quarreling; disputing, protest.
They thraste him full thraly; þan was þer no threpyng. ... ouch!
Do way your threpyng! Are ye wode?

“Anglish”

  • November 3, 2011, 8:19pm

Well, I was like the writer on the forum ... I wondered what the "telling part" was as well. I did a quick search and it seems that it is mostly brooked in grade school (the first few grades). But I did see this for ESL: http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=126277

I haven't been too keen to rename the grammar words. I know what a noun is and that a pronoun takes the stead of a noun ... OK, maybe one could call that a "for-noun" instead of a pronoun. I know that an adverb modifies the verb ... I'm good with that. An adjective, I know that it describes a noun ... OK, maybe there is a better word for that.

Maybe a "telling part" makes more sense than the word predicate. I don't know ... it still seems pretty becloudy to me!

Maybe I should suggest your yoking and yokeless for transitive and intransitive verbs!

Prepositions at the end of a clause

  • November 3, 2011, 6:17pm

@Mediator ... If you aren't worried about "correctness" or "elegance" then why shun them?

"Toys are playthings, that are meant to be played with." There, I fixed it for ya.

"Toys are intended for play." ... Blah ... talk about stilted. Sounds like a dry lecture.

No reason to avoid prepositions at the end of a sentence. English is a Germanic tung and they sound just fine there ... whether in speech or written.

“Anglish”

  • November 3, 2011, 4:06pm

@Jayles ... Overblown is good! Stretch would work as well I think.

Here's something for you from another forum:

[[[The telling part
I was checking the nieceling's homework when I saw something like this question:
Quote:

Read the sentence:

"Evan and Mom cooked soup."

What is the telling part of the sentence?

a) cooked soup
b) Evan
c) and
I told one of my teacher friends about this because it completely confused me, and she explained that it was decided by various educational poobahs that terms like subject and predicate are too hard and ponderous, and so they are being replaced by the terms naming part and telling part.

Is punctuation next? Will periods be called stoppy dots? Why don't we call exclamation points yelly marks? ]]]

“8 inches is” or “8 inches are”

  • November 3, 2011, 12:58pm

@Hairy ... That's a difference between British and American usage then.

I would never say "the team are ..." That just doesn't work in American English. The team is taking the field. The team is winning. This team wins a lot. If the team represents a city, Green Bay is winning. Green Bay is having trouble with its offense.

The name is often plural ... the Green Bay Packers are the champions. The Packers are winning. The Packers are having trouble with their defense.

The board is eight inches long. The length of the board is eight inches. Length is still singular. It doesn't matter.

“Anglish”

  • November 3, 2011, 2:32am

@Jayles ... The anterior paragraph ... that's sad and funny!

The thing with unconscious is that is has two meaning that are nearly akin. One is to be unaware, unwitting, or unknowing and the other to be knocked out. Indeed, one can say that "I was knocked unconscious" meaning knocked out rather than only dazed or "knocked unwittingly". I think the English words are much clearer.

I think I'm going to write a blog on exaggerate and overexaggerate to highlight the inborn problems of using beclouded Latinates. Not only will the writ make it uncloudy that overexaggerate is a word, but also how befuddling wordbuilding is with Latin ... unless you know Latin as well!

The only unblended word that I can think of for exaggerate is "overplay". Overstate is a halfbreed word. I looked to see if there had been "oversay" but I haven't found it. It seems that ME had moren (to more ... or make bigger), overheap (which is what exaggerate calque as), and yelp (to boast, brag, exaggerate).

Questions

What can I do besides... October 8, 2011