topic Re: English major needed in Community Chat

English major needed

Nomorebirthdays — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 21:38:20 GMT

I just read an article from a journalist from NBC.

He writes suspect wrote in a journal " almost exactly" two weeks after such and such.

What is almost exactly? 13 days or 14 days.

I certainly am not a writer or journalist but I see errors frequently, I expect more from professionals.

Re: English major needed

fourpaws56 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 21:42:14 GMT

it means almost exactly

Re: English major needed

mstyrion 1 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 21:44:57 GMT

@Nomorebirthdays wrote:
I just read an article from a journalist from NBC.
He writes suspect wrote in a journal " almost exactly" two weeks after such and such.
What is almost exactly? 13 days or 14 days.
I certainly am not a writer or journalist but I see errors frequently, I expect more from professionals.

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I don't see this example as an egregious mistake in grammar. Perhaps the writer couldn't confirm "exactly" how many days or that it was close to two weeks, but not exactly two weeks. It appears to just be a stylistic approach for this writer.

Did he use proper punctuation?

Re: English major needed

Nomorebirthdays — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 21:55:05 GMT

@mstyrion 1@I wont lose any sleep over it, it was a journal and dated.

My mind says exact means exact. Almost 2 weeks means less than 14 days.

It just seems wrong to me.

Re: English major needed

suzyQ3 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:06:11 GMT

@Nomorebirthdays, what you stumbled upon is one of the trickiest issues that I had to teach to my students who needed very strong language skills to become court reporters.

The adjective "exact" and the adverb form "exactly" is what is called an absolute. In other words, it cannot logically be compared or qualified. In the same way that you can't be "almost pregnant," you can't qualify "exact" or "exactly."

Some absolutes are the words square, perfect, never, always, dead, and the one most misused -- unique.

I hated teaching this as much as my students disliked learning it. They loved trying to convince me that, yes, you could be a little pregnant or almost dead.

I had to teach them that if they insisted on qualifying an absolute, they should use the word "nearly," as in "That man is nearly perfect." In this sense, the modifier only comes close to the absolute word.

EDT: You have a keen eye, @Nomorebirthdays

Re: English major needed

garmer — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:06:12 GMT

"...the same, but different.." Lol. Oxymoron?

Re: English major needed

deepwaterdotter — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:14:01 GMT

@suzyQ3 Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?

Re: English major needed

suzyQ3 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:17:27 GMT

@deepwaterdotter wrote:
@suzyQ3 Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?

@deepwaterdotter, oh, dear. I did try not to sound too -- teachy.

Re: English major needed

deepwaterdotter — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:22:34 GMT

@suzyQ3 wrote:
@deepwaterdotter wrote:
@suzyQ3 Will there be a pop quiz tomorrow?
@deepwaterdotter, oh, dear. I did try not to sound too -- teachy.

You didn't "sound teachy", this is useful information that I had forgotten until you posted it here.

Re: English major needed

NAES1 — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:22:26 GMT

THIS particular wording > 'exactly' < WOULD MEAN VERY little to me, listening, but in a court of law where the exact means just _that_, then there is a difference.

Poor grammar, though.

I am hearing foul up all of the time,i.e., the word, ESPECIALLY. Often heard as Xpeshally. Very often.

Re: English major needed

Nomorebirthdays — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:25:02 GMT

@suzyQ3. Thank you.

Re: English major needed

deepwaterdotter — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:27:44 GMT

A phrase that just sounds 'off' to me is "Take a listen." Newsreaders often say this just before the airing of a sound bite. I would prefer "Here's ______ to explain".

Re: English major needed

sfnative — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 22:44:25 GMT

If a professor of rhetoric read this in a paper submitted by a student, "almost exactly" would have been red-lined. No such thing.

There is "almost" and there is "exactly." There is NO "almost exactly."

Re: English major needed

YorkieonmyPillow — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 23:21:02 GMT

@Nomorebirthdays wrote:
I just read an article from a journalist from NBC.
He writes suspect wrote in a journal " almost exactly" two weeks after such and such.
What is almost exactly? 13 days or 14 days.
I certainly am not a writer or journalist but I see errors frequently, I expect more from professionals.

Agree with you.

Re: English major needed

dooBdoo — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 08:15:21 GMT

suzyQ3 wrote:
@Nomorebirthdays, what you stumbled upon is one of the trickiest issues that I had to teach to my students who needed very strong language skills to become court reporters.

The adjective "exact" and the adverb form "exactly" is what is called an absolute. In other words, it cannot logically be compared or qualified. In the same way that you can't be "almost pregnant," you can't qualify "exact" or "exactly."

Some absolutes are the words square, perfect, never, always, dead, and the one most misused -- unique.

I hated teaching this as much as my students disliked learning it. They loved trying to convince me that, yes, you could be a little pregnant or almost dead.

I had to teach them that if they insisted on qualifying an absolute, they should use the word "nearly," as in "That man is nearly perfect." In this sense, the modifier only comes close to the absolute word.

EDT: You have a keen eye, @Nomorebirthdays

Thanks for this reminder, @suzyQ3. I would add the observation that we seem to see more errors online than we saw in hard copy text in the past. I believe there's less proofreading and editing now. There's too much demand to fill the websites with new content.

Re: English major needed

Isobel Archer — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 10:46:06 GMT

Personally, I'd prefer journalist to present facts not sylistic renderings of prose.

If he said "almost exactly" then he must have known the actual date of the posting since if he didn't, he's basically making up the story. So please just post the date and I can draw my own conclusions.

Re: English major needed

Vivian — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 11:22:59 GMT

Don't forget that our founding fathers wrote about a "more perfect" union.

Re: English major needed

Judaline — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:28:22 GMT

I just got back from the grocery and I heard a lady there say, (talking to her mother), "Didja getcha some apples?" Oh, boy, almost said something but kept my thoughts intact.

Re: English major needed

aggravated — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 15:37:39 GMT

Misnomer?

Re: English major needed

LilacTree — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 15:52:11 GMT

@Judaline wrote:
I just got back from the grocery and I heard a lady there say, (talking to her mother), "Didja getcha some apples?" Oh, boy, almost said something but kept my thoughts intact.

@Judaline

That's more of a colloquialism rather than poor grammar. It's an informal way of speaking usually indigenous to a certain area, or just a shortcut. Much like "jeet yet?"

I've always remembered when I had one of my babies, my roommate caught me yawning, and remarked that I was "gaping." I realized what she meant, she used many odd words. However, I always got her gist, and she was a sweet girl.