Acknowledgement of my Mad Grammar Skillz!

[eregyrn]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I wish they'd indicated percentage correct.

And the funny thing is, I take exception to #11 -- I believe with an almost religious fervor that there should be no stigma against splitting infinitives -- joyfully! With ectasy! Because, the rule regarding the split infinitive was concocted in the 19th century, by nerdy white men who decided to impose rules of Latin grammar on a fundamentally Germanic language to which they often only imperfectly apply. As Bill Bryson quoted in his discussion of the controversy in "The Mother Tongue", prohibiting split infinitives in English makes about as much sense as prohibiting split nominatives -- which is to say, it didn't make any sense in the first place in English to define an infinitive as including both the verb and "to", any more than the language defines a noun as including "the".

*grump, grump, grump*

Comments

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

I love it when people go off on topics of which I have no understanding. No, seriously, I do. Not being sarcastic.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I got Grammar God as well, which frankly I'm a bit dubious abut, I'd generally say my grammar is "not terrible", or even "good, comparatively speaking", but not godlike. (Comma splices 4EVA!)

And like you I wish it detailed which ones you got right and wrong.

However Hol, I'm pretty sure the word on split infinitives is that they're basically okay now. Only the most old fogey grammarians bother to complain about them any more.

[my-tallest.livejournal.com]

Blah blah blah, got Grammar God too.

The quiz is at fault for once again rewarding people for sticking with archaic rules of grammar. English is fluid, changing, and we're just going to have to buck up and let the split infinitive go, OK?

Plus, I'm starting to make peace with the "their"/"there" thing (although not "they're"-- that one you have to get right!). All our spelling is arbitrary anyway, and we've got *plenty* of words spelled exactly the same that you have to figure out the meaning of from context. Some of which have completely opposite meanings!

So why not "their"/"there"? Relax, let it go. Same with "all right/alright"-- in fifty years, who's gonna care?

[erskine.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your designation. Good grammar is a precious thing.

Erskine

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Weird, I got grammar god too, and I feel my grammar is pretty weak.