TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Rule about not using possessive? (Take III, and out)
Subject:Re: Rule about not using possessive? (Take III, and out) From:Christine -dot- Anameier -at- seagate -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 9 Jul 2001 12:08:04 -0500
Equating grammar with laws of nature, Richard Combs wrote:
>I'd go further and say that at least some of the rules
>of grammar *are* laws of nature; when you violate them,
>you contradict reality. . . .
>Take, for instance, the matter of subject-verb number
>agreement. Saying "She are..." or "They is..." doesn't
>just ignore an arbitrary preference of the bourgeousie.
>It rejects Aristotle's law of identity; the subject of
>your communication cannot be *both* an individual and
>a group at the same time.
This argument depends on two assumptions that I consider to be false:
(1) That the meanings of "she," "they," "are," and "is" are somehow
objective and immutable.
Language is socially defined. It evolves. Some dialect forms of English use
different forms of "to be" from Standard Written English. And even within
mainstream English usage, there's plenty of precedent for using the
singular "they," as Bruce has pointed out. For some of us, the
controversial "the user . . . they" construction is perfectly acceptable.
(2) That Aristotle's law of identity is akin to "laws of nature."
Aristotle's law of identity is a philosopher's opinion. Gravity is a law of
nature.
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
