Visit The Self-Appointed Grammar Police!
I recently discovered an entertaining website by the name The Self Appointed Grammar Police, or SAGP for short. It won't win any prizes for cutting-edge design, but I enjoyed its tongue-in-cheek humour, and there's also plenty of genuinely useful info for anyone with an interest in English grammar.
The site has a number of sections, but the largest and most useful is Casebook, which can be accessed from the menu at the foot of the screen. This is where the 'grammar police' list grammatical errors and other examples of bad English they have seen, along with their comments and corrected versions. As an example, here's Case 9 - 'Tripping Over a Dangling Modifier'. Note the pseudo-legalistic style!
The Offence: Increasingly, the error known as a 'dangling modifier' is becoming endemic. Here's an example, from Douglas Kelly, 'The Captain's Wife' (NY: Dutton, 2001), p. 23: Mary was thrilled by the sight from the quarterdeck of the canvas straining before the wind. With all sails out, she could barely see the tops of the masts ...
I can just see Mary with all her sails out, can't you? At least three more instances of similar gaffes mar this book, and I'm seeing the same sort of thing in other novels and in newspapers. The Verdict: Kelly is guilty of perpetrating a dangling modifier. He wants 'With all sails out' to modify the tops of the masts (or maybe the ship itself - which isn't even mentioned.) But it doesn't: it modifies the subject of the sentence, which is Mary.What he meant to write is something like: With all sails out, the tops of the masts were almost hidden from her view.
The Sentence: Mr. Kelly is a corporate pilot, and this is his first novel. The writing is undistinguished, but he has told a good story, and told it well. Though it would be nice if he turned over to his publisher an immaculate manuscript, I don't blame him much for making a few errors. I blame the publisher (Dutton, a member of the Penguin Group), who is obligated to correct authors' errors. So let's hang the publisher from the yardarm, and let Mr. Kelly off with only one stroke of the cat-o'-nine-tails.
Incidentally, the spelling checker for Microsoft Works 4.5 thinks Mr. Kelly should have put a hyphen between 'quarter' and 'deck.' Let's keelhaul the landlubber who's peddling that particular piece of idiocy. Next case!
There are currently over thirty 'cases' listed, and they all make interesting - and entertaining - reading. Other areas of the site include a short how-to section, a list of recommended books about English, and a frequently asked questions section.
Overall, I recommend the The Self Appointed Grammar Police website as entertaining light reading for anyone with an interest in English grammar (which should include all writers, of course). It's only a shame that the site no longer appears to be regularly updated.
The site has a number of sections, but the largest and most useful is Casebook, which can be accessed from the menu at the foot of the screen. This is where the 'grammar police' list grammatical errors and other examples of bad English they have seen, along with their comments and corrected versions. As an example, here's Case 9 - 'Tripping Over a Dangling Modifier'. Note the pseudo-legalistic style!
The Offence: Increasingly, the error known as a 'dangling modifier' is becoming endemic. Here's an example, from Douglas Kelly, 'The Captain's Wife' (NY: Dutton, 2001), p. 23: Mary was thrilled by the sight from the quarterdeck of the canvas straining before the wind. With all sails out, she could barely see the tops of the masts ...
I can just see Mary with all her sails out, can't you? At least three more instances of similar gaffes mar this book, and I'm seeing the same sort of thing in other novels and in newspapers. The Verdict: Kelly is guilty of perpetrating a dangling modifier. He wants 'With all sails out' to modify the tops of the masts (or maybe the ship itself - which isn't even mentioned.) But it doesn't: it modifies the subject of the sentence, which is Mary.What he meant to write is something like: With all sails out, the tops of the masts were almost hidden from her view.
The Sentence: Mr. Kelly is a corporate pilot, and this is his first novel. The writing is undistinguished, but he has told a good story, and told it well. Though it would be nice if he turned over to his publisher an immaculate manuscript, I don't blame him much for making a few errors. I blame the publisher (Dutton, a member of the Penguin Group), who is obligated to correct authors' errors. So let's hang the publisher from the yardarm, and let Mr. Kelly off with only one stroke of the cat-o'-nine-tails.
Incidentally, the spelling checker for Microsoft Works 4.5 thinks Mr. Kelly should have put a hyphen between 'quarter' and 'deck.' Let's keelhaul the landlubber who's peddling that particular piece of idiocy. Next case!
There are currently over thirty 'cases' listed, and they all make interesting - and entertaining - reading. Other areas of the site include a short how-to section, a list of recommended books about English, and a frequently asked questions section.
Overall, I recommend the The Self Appointed Grammar Police website as entertaining light reading for anyone with an interest in English grammar (which should include all writers, of course). It's only a shame that the site no longer appears to be regularly updated.
Nick at 4:26 AM 
1 Comments:
what a great site.
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