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Subject:
From:
Ross Weeks <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:09:30 -0400
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My favorite source for English usage is Ted Bernstein's "The Careful
Writer" (1966).  It is not only instructive, but entertaining.   On
prepositions, "these are questions that cannot be answered by rules.  The
proper preposition is a matter of idiom..."

On  split infinitives, "there is nothing wrong with splitting an
infinitive...except that 18th and 19th century grammarians, for one reason
or another, frowned on it.....the careful writer will in general observe
(the old rule) and when necessary disregard it.  He will disregard it not
defiantly, but boldly...boldly because he is aware that to do otherwise
would be to fall into ambiguity or awkwardness."

But "alright?"   Never.

Nor "in order to" and other such excess locutions as "for the purpose of"
and "in terms of."

Bernstein's short treatise on "windfoggery" is worth reading for its humor
and for his call to professionals to avoid pomposity in communicating with
one another.  In particular, he mentions the arts world.

Ross Weeks

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