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Subject:Re: how we learn English From:Len Olszewski <saslpo -at- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 4 Dec 1995 17:37:05 GMT
In article <m0t7d98d2 -at- trilogy -dot- usa -dot- com>, Connie Winch <CEW -at- macola -dot- usa -dot- com>
writes:
[...]
|> Having said that, I would also
|> say that there are some things that are taught as rules
|> that really don't need to be rules (such as Never end
|> a sentence with a prepostion, or worse, Always write
|> in the third person - this has led to a lot of really
|> poor technical writing, especially in the early stages
|> of this profession).
[...]
Yes, there are certain rules which, over the years, have either been
overtaken by popular usage, or which have proved themselves to be
enemies of clear and direct prose. However, you still must learn the
rules, even the "bad" ones, to knowledgably discard or selectively
ignore them (as I did here in deliberately splitting that last
infinitve; I did it because in a posting, it really doesn't make much
difference in the clarity of the message, *but* I *realized* that I did
it and I had a reason for it 8-).
