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Subject:Re: What's wrong with "too"? From:Ben Kovitz <apteryx -at- CHISP -dot- NET> Date:Mon, 22 Feb 1999 14:20:53 -0700
Patty Ewy wrote:
>Hi all--
>
>Over the past few weeks I've had a couple writing projects returned to me
>with all the "too's" changed to "also's". Both the markups were from the
>same reviewer, but I've had other reviewers make this change on my pages,
>too (or "also"--?)
>
>As far as I know, "too" is perfectly acceptable, but if there's some rule
>about "too," I'd love to hear about it. Anyone?
Sounds like you've run into some seriously compulsive reviewers. Alas, a
lot of people in our field become obsessed with these tiny, utterly
inconsequential things. Grade-school English teachers who preach "rules"
that do not exist have contributed a lot to this problem.
Buy your friends a copy of The Elements of Editing, by Arthur Plotnik. He
makes the interesting distinction between "dysfunctional compulsiveness"
(what your reviewers have) and "functional compulsiveness" (fanaticism
about conveying the meaning to the reader).
