EPTWould you consider this sentence correct? - Page 2
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dRaW
Canada5744 Posts
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drag_
England425 Posts
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Celesti
69 Posts
Up to you how you phrase it but the original sentence sounds 'wrong' so to speak, you can alter it a number of ways to make it sound better. | ||
NonY
8751 Posts
edit: dictionary.com's second definition of they: people in general: They say he's rich. So anyone saying to replace "they" with "people" or something similar is just adjusting the sentence based on their preferences, not on grammar. They're synonyms. edit2: I bet your teacher would have me change "their preferences" to "his or her preferences" too. F that. | ||
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QuothTheRaven
United States5524 Posts
On October 01 2010 06:01 Jibba wrote: Grammar is important. If you ever take the LSATs, you'll see how assumptions like that are a problem. Not just LSATs--the (relatively) new SAT writing portion has an entire section devoted to correcting sentence grammar, and ambiguous pronouns show up on quite a few of the questions. | ||
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Celesti
69 Posts
On October 01 2010 06:27 Liquid`Tyler wrote: The only pronoun in that sentence is "them" which is used correctly. "They" isn't always a pronoun and it's clearly not being used as a pronoun here. edit: dictionary.com's second definition of they: So anyone saying to replace "they" with "people" or something similar is just adjusting the sentence based on their preferences, not on grammar. They're synonyms. edit2: I bet your teacher would have me change "their preferences" to "his or her preferences" too. F that. Very true, what I wrote would be similar to how I would say the sentence, although trying to adapt that bastardised original sentence to speech is fundamentally flawed. | ||
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Nytefish
United Kingdom4282 Posts
On October 01 2010 06:38 Celesti wrote: Very true, what I wrote would be similar to how I would say the sentence, although trying to adapt that bastardised original sentence to speech is fundamentally flawed. The problem is, what's acceptable in speech and general writing isn't always correct for standardised tests. It's one thing that's always annoyed me because I've always though 'he or she' was a sloppy looking construct. | ||
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Celesti
69 Posts
On October 01 2010 06:47 Nytefish wrote: The problem is, what's acceptable in speech and general writing isn't always correct for standardised tests. It's one thing that's always annoyed me because I've always though 'he or she' was a sloppy looking construct. Yep, the original sentence is awful for written English and no one would ever construct a sentence like that. Spoken English can help in this regard as this sentence 'sounds' wrong and normally what sounds wrong in our minds whilst reading is grammatically incorrect. Well atleast for me. | ||
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Diuqil
United States307 Posts
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Seide
United States831 Posts
The general public maybe not care about the grammar mistake, but a mistake is a mistake and should be pointed out. | ||
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popnfreshspk
United States93 Posts
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hofodomo
United States257 Posts
I'm certain the OP can still pursue his/her desires in life just fine, but writing well is a good skill to keep. On October 01 2010 07:22 popnfreshspk wrote: I hate that "his or her" bs. Can't English be not PC and just use the masculine pronoun to refer to the crowd like the other languages? I do too, though that's more due to the scholars (and not so scholarly ones) that insist on PC, rather than English itself. | ||
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Asdkmoga
United States496 Posts
idk, im probably wrong | ||
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shinosai
United States1577 Posts
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EchOne
United States2906 Posts
English grammar is often silly, but command of it is important in accurate, professional written communication, especially with non-native speakers who may not hold the same linguistic assumptions as a native speaker. I don't know the circumstances of your education, but if you wish to enlighten your teacher, I recommend doing so in private, with well-prepared reasoning and evidence, and hopefully with good intentions. | ||
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Subversion
South Africa3627 Posts
Pronouns are used as a placeholder for a previously used noun. In this sentence you can't say "they" because you have not previously specified the noun "Europeans". Pretty petty, but she technically is right. But yeah man, in casual speech, noone gives a shit. | ||
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n3mo
United States298 Posts
of course we all know what you're talking about, but just because we can fix your mistake in our mind does not mean that its correct. and if you really refuse to learn this, you'll just score a hundred points less on the SAT, nbd. | ||
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NobleDog
United States65 Posts
The meaning is clear. If you were to send a letter to the WSJ or the Pope then I'd recommend a more formal usage. The teacher should just teach it that way: Formal and informal. (Prescriptive grammar vs. descriptive grammar. Follow the pronounced rules vs. discover how usage defines the rules.) | ||
infinitestory
United States4053 Posts
EDIT: The reason the sentence is ambiguous is because the pronoun "they" in the sentence could share an antecedent from the previous sentence. More correct would be to say "people" instead of "they," as someone above pointed out. | ||
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Whole
United States6046 Posts
On October 01 2010 07:14 Seide wrote: You are mad at your teacher being elitist for teaching you proper gramamr like she is paid to? Except she berates anyone who talks incorrectly, and it gets pretty annoying after a few months of her complaining about the same shit. I won't go into every detail because that is not the point of the blog. edit: Conclusion: It is technically incorrect, and I shouldn't use it at school. Everywhere else, it is fine. | ||
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