CHAT ARCHIVE - 2-26-00, Inference and Connotations

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Started on Sun Feb 27 02:26:56 2000

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<Casey> Tonight's grammar lesson is subject-verb agreement.
<Casey> The rule for tonight is every verb must agree in number with its
subject (noun).
<Casey> In other words, when the subject of the sentence is two or more
people, critters or things, the verb must be plural.
<Casey> Example:  The size of the ships startles spectators.
<Casey> Which is the subject of this sentence?
<Sea Witch> Spectators?
<crip> size
<Casey> (Obviously, some kind of demonstration is being viewed.)
<Casey> right, crip.
<Sea Witch> Duh, Witchie puts on tall pointy hat.
<Casey> The most frequent confusion occurs because of the words that
separate the subject from the verb.  Ignore all extraneous words when
deciding subject-verb agreement.
<Casey> bears . . . are
<Casey> dog . . . is
<Casey> Everyone . . . is
<Casey> Now, for strange handlings.
<Casey> singular subjects followed by "with," "together with," "accompanied
by," and "as well as" take singular verbs.
<Casey> John, accompanied by his friend Mary, was taken to the precinct for
questioning.
<Casey> as opposed to:  John and his friend Mary were taken to the . . .
<Sea Witch> Not many journalists know that.
<Sea Witch> Judging by the meanderings of the tabloid press
<Casey> I can't think of any example where "and" joining two different
nouns does not use a plural verb.
<Casey> I suspect that a knowledge of grammar isn't a requirement for most
jobs involving writing.
<Sea Witch> Shame
<Casey> Yep.
<Casey> When "none," "either," neither," and "any" is used, number can
change depending upon the meaning of the sentence.
<Casey> Examples:  None but a fool squanders his time.
<Casey> None but fools squander their time.
<Casey> Note that the pronoun following the verb must also change.
<Casey> Pretty much, all this stuff is logical.
<Sea Witch> That makes sense
<Casey> If two nouns refer to the same person or thing and are joined by
"and," the verb is singular.
<Casey> My friend and benefactor was there for moral support.
<Casey> If they are actually two different people, "were" would be used
instead of "was."
<Sea Witch> Providing of course that the writer knew what he/she was doing
<Casey> That, too!  That tends always to be the case.  If the writers
doesn't know what is going on, his writing ALWAYS reflects that.
<Casey> I can tell in rereading my own work where I was fuzzy in direction.
<Casey> when "or" or "nor" joins two singular subjects, the verb is
singular.
<Casey> Either the president or his assistant will return my call.
<Casey> Either you or he has to be there.
<Casey> If the two subjects differ in number, make the verb agree with the
subject nearer to it.
<Casey> Neither the farmer nor the chickens were aware of the fox.
<Casey> Someone reverse the subjects for me and provided the correct verb
agreement.
<Casey> Anyone daring enough to reverse subjects in the last example?
<Sea Witch> Exchange were for was?
<Casey> Neither the chickens nor the farmer was aware of the fox.
<Casey> When the verb comes first in a sentence, it still must agree with
the number of the subject.
<Casey> There are only a chair and a table left to move.
<Casey> In the balcony there is one empty seat.
<Casey> Collective nouns like "committee" will use a singular or plural
verb depending, again, upon meaning or intention.
<Casey> The committee is meeting today, treats committee as one unit.
<Sea Witch> I take it that is because Committee indicates ONE group of
people
<Casey> That's right, Witchie.
<Goshwin> but a committee has members
<Sea Witch> only if they are blokes, Gosh
<Casey> The committee are unable to agree on a plan of action, assumes that
members of the committee are acting separately or independently.
<Casey> A panel has members, too, but the same kinds of distinctions apply.
<Casey> It all depends upon whether the author is speaking collectively or
individually.
<Goshwin> *Chortal* I presume the rest got that
<Sea Witch> One committee.  Two committees
<Casey> Onto Inference.
<Casey> Too many writers tend to explain everything. 
<Casey> He picked up the dish with his hand.
<Sea Witch> I know.  Witchie has been there.
<Casey> Duh!  We kindda figure it's with his hand.
<Casey> Have him pick up the dish with his toes.  Then you'll have my
attention!
<crip> how unsanitary
<Casey> But if it's life and death, sanitary can fly to the wind.
<Goshwin> could use his teeth!
<Sea Witch> A butler is preferable
<Casey> Amputees have to use their toes.
<Sea Witch> Does that mean that all bathroom signs declaring now wash your
hands after using the lavatory are now considered discriminatory and
therefor have to be removed?
<Casey> Redundancy goes here, too.
<Casey> the forest trees . . .  Unless there's a reason why we have to know
something about the trees in the forest, don't bother with both.
<Casey> If your character is traveling through a forest, the trees were
birch. 
<Casey> Those kinds of signs were written for idiots, SW.  As a writer,
it's better that you not assume your readership are idiots.
<Casey> (Better for your ego, too.)
<Casey> There are ways of sneaking in information in almost invisible and
certainly less painful ways than explaining or describing everything going
on in great detail.
<Casey> As an example and exercise, Use a proper name to enlarge a reader's
understanding of some aspect of a character's history, personality, or
trait(s).
<Casey> For example:  "What ever happened to ol' Houdini Johnson?"
<Casey> Where Houdini is a nickname.
<Casey> Or a character throws that in as an adjective.
<Casey> Can you guys come up with other examples?
<Sea Witch> When is "Bone Cruncher" Smith performing his next bout?
<Casey> "I visited him in the hospital.  He looked like The Mummy."
<Goshwin> Groucho ?
<Casey> Who wants to tangle with Smith, huh?
<Sea Witch> Not Beanpole Bailey, that's for sure <g>
<Casey> There are an awful lot of silent people in this room.
<kissfan> Still thinking LOL
<Casey> *glares at Crip and Gosh and Kathy*
<crip> if we speak, icq erases us
<crip> we ain't snitches!!!
<Goshwin> just call me "Mutlitaskwin"
<Casey> Okay, will you guys have better luck showing increasing alarm?
<Casey> How do you *show* alarm without going into great explanations?
<crip> ZOINKS!
<Sea Witch> Scream, "Oh my God!  I'm going to die!"
<Casey> In comic books, that works well, Crip.
<crip> HMPH
<Casey> Okay.  Now show increasing alarm.
<Casey> No.  No!
<Sea Witch> Oh, my God.  I am going to die instantaneously!
<Goshwin> Hurumph
<Casey> LOL, SW
<Sea Witch> Grin
<Sea Witch> Guess what I am going to say now, Casey (injecting chat with a
hint of mystery)
<Casey> I'm afeared to, SW.
<Sea Witch> You are right to be afeared for Crip has once more slipped away
into the depths of cyber hell
<Sea Witch> Will he ever return (builds tension nicely)
<Casey> Crip is now screaming.  He's left again.
<Casey> Assumption:  since you answered his question, I figured that you
could see him.
<Sea Witch> Oooops.  Silly me.
<Casey> (Assumptions demonstrated in writing and reading.)
<crip> assump a grump..hmmm
<Casey> Anyone else with a showing gradual alarm example?
<Casey> come on, folks!  Play with us!
<crip> somebodys getting craaaanky
<Sea Witch> Assumption?  Gill found some poo on the hall carpet.
Assumption - the cat shat on the mat
<Casey> How can you tell any difference between now and my normally cheery
disposition?
<crip> normally cheery? bwahahahahahahahahahaha
<Casey> We're assuming Gill doesn't have a 1 1/2 year old?
<Casey> human kid.
<Sea Witch> Only a husband.  I'm assuming he's house trained.  GRIN
<Casey> BIG assumption!
<Sea Witch> This is a fantasy story after all
<Sea Witch> BIGGER GRIN
<Casey> Ahhhh.  Explains it.
<Goshwin> HE he he
<Casey> Okay.  Grump.  Another teacher example then:  "Mary was supposed to
arrive at three.  She's not there yet?"
<Sea Witch> Crip is off with the cyber fairies again.
<Casey> Crip, stop playing with the fairies.
<Sea Witch> Mary has eloped with the milkman?
<Sea Witch> Gosh this must be good stuff in my glass.  My eyesight is
becoming so sharp I'm seeing double!
<Goshwin> Huh?
<Casey> Good one, Witchie.
<Casey> Her gosh was an expletive.
<Sea Witch> But not a rude one!
<Goshwin> Sigh... Methinks my name confuses (me mostly)
<Sea Witch> You spelled "crap" all right Kathy.
<Sea Witch> Isn't it wonderful how one small word can sum up a whole welter
of feeling?
<kissfan> LOL yep
<Goshwin> ZZZZzzzzz *SPROING* WAAAAARGH! ZZzzzzzzzzzz
<crip> *LOL* exactly gosh
<Goshwin> (Takes a bow)
<Casey> Interesting bed, there, Crip.
<crip> it's possessed
<Casey> And I'm not dead yet, nor mumified.
<crip> i think it was one of those satanic quilts
<Goshwin> ZZzzzzz * YAWN* *nup nup nup* WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...THUMP
<Casey> Now, there's increasing alarm!
<Casey> Does everyone know what connotations are?
<Sea Witch> Fake notes?
<Casey> Not quite.
<kissfan> I thinks so but tell me again so I know for sure LOL
<kissfan> mind is shot tonight
<crip> nope
<Sea Witch> I was being witty!  Humph!
<Casey> They're words that bring in unlike images.  Like son, sounding
similar to sun, brings in both images to the mind.
<Sea Witch> So I'll be serious.
<Sea Witch> Implications!
<Casey> Con notes.  I know!
<Casey> yes, SW. 
<Casey> name some more words  that bring in pictures of other things
besides their literal meaning.
<Sea Witch> rough and ruff
<crip> whose
<Casey> sea and see
<crip> oh wait nevermind
<Sea Witch> tear and tier
<Sea Witch>  sow and so
<Casey> and sew
<Sea Witch> bow and bough
<Sea Witch> and here's one to confuse.
<Sea Witch> Bat and bat
<kissfan> fawn and fawn?
<kissfan> I give up LOL
<Casey> They don't have to be words that sound alike.  They can also be
words that have meanings derived from everyday uses.
<Casey> Just as Houdini has connotations of being able to escape from any
confinement--not simply an image of the man whose name it is.
<Casey> That's right, Kathy.  To fawn over someone, and the baby deer.
<Sea Witch> Yes, you must always be polite to a bloke who's nickname is
"Mauler"
<Casey> Exactly.
<kissfan> LOL I thought I misspelled it again 
<Sea Witch> In fact, such names carry their own health warnings.  Your life
is forfeit if you make this person angry sort of thing
<Casey> Unless it was given to him as a joke, because he weights 98 lbs.
and is a bookworm.
<Casey> He was named that because he once dropped a maul on his foot.
<Goshwin> A nerd called "Wiggler"?
<Sea Witch> Not if his best friend calls him Strichnine!
<Casey> Then you just don't eat around him.
<Casey> Or drink.
<Casey> Politely turn down chocklits.
<Sea Witch> Ah, but you think he has a joke nickname.
<Casey> Anyhow, the whole point is, to use fewer words in description and
. . . ARGH!
<Sea Witch> That's a good word Casey.  Sums up the whole situation
<Casey> (Demonstration of increasing frustration.)
<Casey> Anyway (trying to get this in before Crip leaves again) imply
goings-on in getting across (divulging) information.
<Casey> Your readers aren't stupid.  Don't assume they are.  Rather, assume
they can make assumptions.
<Casey> Individual words can and do carry a lot of weight.
<Casey> Use them to create pictures.
<Sea Witch> The trick is to have your reader assume that you are an
excellent wordsmith
<crip> such as?
<Casey> The trick is to make your readers believe that in YOUR writing,
every word counts.
<Casey> They miss a word, they miss something important.
<Sea Witch> How about "meaty thwack" and "wet splat"
<Sea Witch> and then sink an axe into their interfering skulls
<kissfan> cane to the confusion that my husband is a demon sent to sabotage
my writing and anything else I try to do HEHEE
<Casey> LOL!
<Casey> I suspect you meant conclusion, but I do like confusion better.
<Sea Witch> Yeah. Mr. SW can be pretty confused at times!  heh heh
<Goshwin> My my its Borden Sea witch. Or "40 Whacks" the witch
<Sea Witch> Nah, 40 Wahcks is the economy model.  I go the whole ton
<kissfan> LOL I dod mean conclusion HEHEE 
<Goshwin> He he he "The decapitator"
<Sea Witch> I prefer.....The Obliterator!
<Casey> The only exercise I have left that we didn't do is, "Reveal a
positive trait about an evil person." 
<Sea Witch> He likes animals
<crip> Casey is positively evil.
<kissfan> has a sense of humor LOL
<Casey> He likes animals, so he used duck (sic) tape to shut up his
victims?
<kissfan> LOL
<Sea Witch> Hey, there goes Petfriend Evil-Bastard
<Casey> He picked the decapitated head up off the floor and carefully wiped
the blood from the eyes.
<kissfan> he placed the head in the fridge to keep it on ice HEHEE
<Casey> *Falls forward, exhales, inhales while straightening and whacks
head on desk*
<crip> we are now in control.
<Casey> Hey!  I didn't say I was unconscious!
<crip> darn
<Sea Witch> What, not even a little bit?
<Casey> We've managed to survive 2 hours of "fun."  Any questions or
comments about the topic?  Any further observations?  Further suggestions?
<Sea Witch> I have a question
<Casey> Ask away.
<crip> quick question, what's the normal font?
<Casey> There is no "normal" anything.
<crip> i meant for the icq
<Sea Witch> Yaaaaaaawwwwnnnn.  Can Witchie go bye byes now?  Huh, please,
huh?
<Casey> Goodnight, Witchie.
<Soulmoon> must be the same demon. . .icQ
<Casey> *shudder.*  No.  No!  NO!  Not . . . icq!
<crip> ICQ HAS COME FOR YOU, CASEY!!!!
<Soulmoon> why is this one of hardest decisions in life? picking a college
should be as easy as picking your teeth!
<Casey> Do you get plaque from a college?
<Soulmoon> probably, if you do a good job. . hehehe
<Casey> Soulmoon got the connotation.  he he!
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