At least it’s illogical for me a tech writer:
The best way to learn about wild mushrooms is to go out with an expert or, better yet, a group of experts.
May-June Montana Outdoors, page 27
So is going out with an expert the best way or not? Maybe the writer is just being a bit (for me) too informal. Maybe it’s stream of consciousness.
How would you re-write the sentence?
Here’s a picture, from Google, of a type of mushroom pictured in the article.
When you make a statement that’s contrary to fact, use the subjunctive form of the verb. So in this case, he should say “Maybe if there were a loophole.”
Now for the digression:
Most people (in the US anyway) quote the golden rule as “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”
But they have it backwards! Translating the King James into reasonably modern English, it should be “Whatever you would have others do to you, do so to them.”
I have no idea why we say it backwards. If you happen to know, put the info into the comments.
Saying “those” when “the” will do is a pretentiousism. Here’s an example:
“As we continue to implement the Great American Outdoors Act across the Forest, our highest priorities will be those projects that reduce deferred maintenance, are ready to implement and provide the greatest immediate benefit to the public,” stated [Caribou-Targhee National Forest Branch Chief Wes] Stumbo.
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/04/caribou-targhee-national-forest-to-revitalize-the-east-mink-creek-corridor/
Saying “will be the projects that…” is more straightforward than what’s in the quote. In fact, he could have said “…will be projects that…” because, after all, the proper emphasis is on projects, not on their decision-making process (or whatever it is that the word “those” emphasizes).
Okay, no lesson today, just an autobiographical confession. Here’s the illustration. Third panel:
He shouldn’t be ashamed of himself, though. Finding those typos is a sign of alertness.
My confession: Like Sluggo, I can’t look at text without finding the typos.
Blood plays a very crucial role in our body. So it should be perfectly configured in our body. Our blood is consist of three types of cells i.e. Red blood cells that carry oxygen to our entire body, platelets that helps in clotting the blood and last but not the least white blood cells that prevent our body from infection. All the three cells has to be in a definite proportion for a healthy body. Here we will discuss about the disorder in our body due to the unwanted distribution of white blood cells named Leukemia. Also we will discuss the basic process for the cure of this disease.
What is Leukemia and Why How Does it Happen?
Before understanding the cure, you should know some basic things about this process. Leukemia is a kind of blood cancer that is caused by the rise in white blood cell in your body. The bone marrow of your body that makes millions of blood cells every day in which most of them are red blood cells, will start to produce extra white blood cells.
Leukemia Marrow Transplant
There are many options for the treatment of this cancer depending upon the type of leukemia. This thing will be confirmed by the several diagnosis that your doctor will recommend you. Cell transplant is the one of the treatment for this disease. Also known as Stem cell transplant or bone marrow Transplant.
How it is done?
As discussed earlier, the bone marrow is that part which produces thousands of blood cells every day. In this leukemia marrow transplant or stem cells will be replaced with the new one. The process will be done in these simple steps.
After the stem cells transplant in bone marrow, it will start to grow new blood cells in required proportion.
Although according to some surveys, stem cell transplant is the most commonly used method for the cure of this blood cancer, but the method and type of treatment depends on the maturity of cancer. It also depends on the type of causing blood cells so it is highly recommended that you should go through the symptoms and consult to a specialist. Because prevention is always better than cure.
Contact US:
Gift of Life Marrow Registry Address: 800 Yamato Rd suite 101 Boca Raton, FL Phone: (800) 962-7769
Marketingese. Is that a word? I hope so, because this post is about a sample of it. This is a style of writing that I don’t much like. I write to explain things, not encourage fantasy. Here’s what I’m talking about:
The front of the plaid packet said UPTAPPED: ALL NATURAL ENERGY. The marketing copy said, “For too long athletic nutrition has been sweetened with cheap synthetic sugars. The simplicity of endurance sports deserves a simple ingredient — 100% pure, unadulterated, organic […] the all-natural, low glycemic-index sports fuel.”
This was the label on a packet of maple syrup.
That’s a quote from an article in vulture.com that speaks ill of business talk aka corporate-speak, made-up words and new metaphors common in corporate culture. (The writer of the article calls these expressions, among other things, “usage peeves.”) It’s a fun read if you like good language and dislike certain neologisms: Why do corporations speak the way they do? I could pull a lot of quotes from the article, and they’d fit comfortably on this website, but I’ll settle for this.
Read the article and pick your own favorite examples of non-expository language.
Okay, here’s the picture that goes with the article:
English has a long history of verbing nouns, meaning using a noun as a verb. (Look up “verbing” in the search box) but in at least some cases, we curmudgeons take a while to get used to the construction. “Office,” for example, is a pretty tough verb for us to swallow. First panel:
Do you have a pet grammar peeve? Share in the comments. Maybe I’ll post about it.
PS—The next day’s comic. First panel again.
—in person anyway. On this site I do it all the time.
I don’t do it when you write to me, either. Unless you ask. Aren’t you glad?
Back in the days of typewriters, when we wanted to type the name of a book, we did a bunch of backspaces, then underlined the title.
In these days of word processors, with formatting only a click away, the correct way to type the name of a whole book or other stand-alone publication is to use italics. For example, this passage from the email newsletter New Atlas:
In a study published in the journal Neuron, the team showed that at a frequency of 50 Hz, electrical stimulation of the central lateral thalamus, a region once thought of mainly as a relay, amplification and processing station, was able to pull macaque monkeys out of an anesthetized state and elicit normal waking behaviors.
https://newatlas.com/science/consciousness-switch-brain-region
Here’s a picture:
Suppose you print the title of an article inside a publication. Put that title in quotes, which I did under the picture.
These two rules appeared before the widespread use of the internet, but I haven’t seen a change to those rules.
This led me to ask what the rule is for documents that didn’t exist before the internet. What about websites? Um, such as New Atlas? For what it’s worth, the USGPO Style Manual for 2016 says to set websites in Roman. I confess that I like the idea of using italics for things like online newsletters. Have you seen this discussed anywhere?
I made this point back before the internet, when I first started writing. I don’t think I’ve run into this point since! Be careful with pointless metaphors:
…except I said not to do this. Say the note (or email now, I guess) is from you, not your desk!
