Re: feedback and sharing knowledge

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@jupiter.colossus.net)
Fri, 26 Sep 1997 17:37:51 -0700 (PDT)

> I apoligize sincerely, it was a very mean thing for me to point out. In
> general, your grammar is very good-- probably better than mine; however,
> my little remark was in reference to your statement "I don't know nothing
> of economics." When you say "don't know nothing," that is a
> double-negative. It's almost as big a mistake as when I finish half my
> sentences with a preposition. Ah, we're Science students, we don't know
> nothing about grammar, do we?

Actually neither is a mistake at all--in English, a double negative
just means something different from what was intended, but is valid
grammatically. Putting a preposition at the end of a sentence is
also a perfectly valid practice in English, and any teacher who tells
you otherwise should be summarily fired for incompetence.

But let's not start a grammar war here (though I'd be happy to
start one in private email :)

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC