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I'm sure we can all quote some bureacrat's report that is grammatically
correct, yet has no clear meaning. Words are the expression of the meaning in
the writer's mind, grammar the way those words are (descriptive grammar) or
should (prescriptive grammar) be arranged to communicate the meaning to someone
else.
To me, correct grammar cannot produce clear meaning where there is none. The
best that grammar can do is to minimize distortions of meaning caused by the
process of turning meaning into written words. The worst that grammar can do is
turn even the clearest original meaning into meaninglessness.
IMHO.
David Jones, Technical Writer
David_Jones/KSBEISD -dot- KSBEISD -at- Datahub -dot- com
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To: TECHWR-L @ LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU
From: mark @ MEMCO.CO.IL ("Mark L. Levinson") @ Internet
Date: 08/08/96 11:45:38 AM
Subject: Rule-bashing
If your meaning is clear and unambiguous, your
language is grammatically correct.
** You couldn't of actually mean that.
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