Um... make that 'sentence' and 'endeavor' and 'verbiage' and 'language'.
(oops)
-----Original Message-----
From: Andy LaMora [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 09:37
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: Ben P. Souther
Subject: RE: Disapointment (way, way off topic) - even further! (last
one)
It could be argued that any person who reads through this thread and isn't
rolling in gales of laughter lacks a pulse.
If you bother to read the many posts related to this subject, you'll find at
least two useful and informative answers.
I tempered my own flame with a recount of how we solved that problem.
But for the record: I believe I am correct. If you disagree, make sure
you're referring to the original sentance, and not my *fragment* example
(which was perhaps chosen poorly?).
Since the pursuit of concise expression is hardly a wasteful endeavour,
whether the subject is language or coding, here is a technical diagnosis of
this sentance.
A verb must agree in number with the subject. Compound subjects joined with
"and" require a plural verb. BUT, a subject followed by a phrase, and not
another subject item, is NOT a plural subject, and the verbage should be
singular.
This sentance is difficult to classify owing to the haphazard usage of
plural 'documents' and singular 'list'. Either of those could be argued to
be reasonable translation:
Neither the tomcat literature NOR this mailing list HAS been a helpful
resource.
[note substitution of singular "literature" for the plural "documents"]
- or -
The tomcat literature AND this mailing list HAVE NOT been helpful resources.
[in this one "both" is implied]
So while either might be reasonable, the latter is probably the best choice,
given the lack of consistent usage of the singular, and use of "and" (as
opposed to 'phraseish' langaguage like 'as well as').
Stylistically, the former example is better.
If anyone has an informative argument to the contrary, I'd love to hear it
so I don't beak the next standardized test somebody throws at me. But
please respond to me directly so we can kill this thread and get back to
Tomcat.
Enjoy!
Andy [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Emenaker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 02:53
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Disapointment (way, way off topic)
> | This is the real problem with the internet. People don't check the
> | original post and respond to things out of context. The original
quote
> | was, "The tomcat docs and this mailing list has been..." The
grammar was
> | incorrect and the sentence should have been, "The tomcat docs and
this
> | mailing list have been..."
>
> The *real* problem here is a lack of tolerance. Hardly anyone
expresses
> themselves using grammatically-perfect speech, be it in English or in
any
> other language.
Also, I've found that sharpshooting of others' grammar is often the last
resort for someone who's pissed at the poster, but doesn't have any
"real" argument to make. Sort of like that saying "Profanity is the
haven of feeble minds" or something like that. Basically, the saying is
about.... when someone starts cursing up a storm in an argument, it
means that they're out of arguments.
The fact remains that the original poster expected their problem to be
solved here on the mailing list. What they didn't realize is that
mailing lists, as Forest Gump would say, is like a box of chocolates;
you never know what you're going to get.
So, they posted their angry post.
The decision the rest of us faced, is whether to reward such a tantrum
with an answer to their problem. Do we want to, in effect, demonstrate
to them that pitching a fit over how nobody has stepped forward to solve
your problem acutally cause someone to step forward to solve your
problem?
- Joe
