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The Mumpsimus —
Geoffrey Pullum, co-author of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, is not celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Strunk & White -- in an essay at The Chronicle Review, he writes: The book's toxic mix of purism, atavism, and personal eccentricity is not underpinned by a proper grounding in English grammar. It is often so misguided that the authors appear not to notice their own egregious flouting of its own rules. They can't help it, because they don't know how to identify what they condemn.It's a ...
April 13, 2009 Links and Plugs
Bibliophile Stalker —
... Color in Writing. Lev Grossman on Zombies are the New Vampires. Sharon Baker on Dealing with Writer's Block. Jeff VanderMeer's Blog Favorites (bias: I'm in it!). Sean Wallace on There's Statistics . . . And Then There's Statistics. Language Log on In defense of spell-checking. Janice Hardy on Query, Ho! Matthe Cheney on JPK and Me: The Early Years. Geoffrey K. Pullum on 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice. Andrew Wheeler on Aha! That's What the ...
Links and Things
Enter the Octopus —
... Quick summary of the “Amazon Fail” thing that happened over the weekend
Felix Gilman’s seven reasons why you should read “Gears of the City”
New Kurt Vonnegut book
“’The Elements of Style’ does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates” (via Bookninja)
Praise for “The Forest of Hands & Teeth”
Interview with Matthew Sturges
James “Grognardia” Maliszewski on R.A. Eddison’s “The Worm Ouroboros”
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Ranty Starlinks
Mike Brotherton: SF Writer —
... Not everyone loves Strunk and White’s Elements of Stlye. No, they do not. I don’t think it’s all that bad at all, and most students would benefit tremendously if they just followed all its rules mindlessly. Mindfully seems a bit much to ask of average students these days, unfortunately… ...
50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice
Accelerating Future —
... an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice”, that completely trashes The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, long considered the Bible of writing and grammar. ...
