Quick Thanks to Mark Perry
I know Mark Perry reads this blog from time to time, so I thank him for not hammering me (specifically) in his annual grammar day post. I actually do know all this stuff (and had a uselessly high score on my verbal SAT all those many years ago, though my kids claim it was a much easier test then) but I seem to be the worst proofreader in the world.
marque2:
Just about everyone is poorer proof reading their own stuff. It is much easier to see the flaws in other people's works, because we tend to mentally skim over what we just wrote, and focus more on something that has never been read before.
But then with the Internet, grammar is out the window. I usually post from my phone, and am happy to have just anything readable up at all.
March 10, 2017, 1:48 pmBill Drissel:
I've never been able to proof my own work. One of my lapses is to type a word before I stop to think and then type the word again. Until word processors began to check for this, I would never see the doubled words when reading.
I know grammar well but I long for elaborate grammar checkers that work as I type. I rarely find errors in grammar as I re-read. Apparently I subconsciously am proofing against what I "remember" I had previously typed.
Regards,
March 10, 2017, 9:39 pmBill Drissel
Frisco, TX
Jay Kaplan:
"Siting"is placement of something like a building. "Citing" is referencing a source of support for the statement made.
March 12, 2017, 5:38 ammorganovich:
FWIW, your kids have it backwards.
the SAT used to be considerably harder.
http://nypost.com/2014/03/11/college-board-has-made-sat-even-easier-again/
it's been dumbed down over and over.
i looked over a practice test my friend's son was taking. i'd bet you it's 60-100 points easier between math and verbal combined.
the fact that guessing is no longer penalized further inflates scores, especially at the lower end.
the math is laughably easy and i have not taken a math class in 27 years.
March 12, 2017, 5:40 amobloodyhell:
You misused the wrong "Citing/Siting" a couple times recently. ;-)
Specifically, "Siting" for "Citing". In the AGW/CC stuff, IIRC.
March 19, 2017, 4:29 amobloodyhell:
HEH. Welcome to the party. :-D
March 19, 2017, 4:30 amobloodyhell:
I confess, I am AWESOME at this. I seem to have a freaking English sieve in my head that spots crap like that instantly, everywhere I read. I recall noting, about two decades ago, an HBO commercial that ran for about six weeks before being corrected, that used the wrong "its/it's" ("Do they know its Saturday Night?")
March 19, 2017, 4:32 am