http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/12/19/when-experts-arent-the-ethics-of-competence-and-the-elements-of-style/ An ethics commentary blog on current events and issues Sun, 27 May 2012 01:38:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/12/19/when-experts-arent-the-ethics-of-competence-and-the-elements-of-style/comment-page-1/#comment-535 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:58:48 +0000 http://ethicsalarms.com/?p=579#comment-535 Well, OK, I’ll settle for blaming Strunk. Must keep peace among ethicists. (Is that what we are? Can we be CPEs?

]]> http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/12/19/when-experts-arent-the-ethics-of-competence-and-the-elements-of-style/comment-page-1/#comment-534 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:17:19 +0000 http://ethicsalarms.com/?p=579#comment-534 I never took p.90 to mean that—I assumed they mean linking “I want to the Fair” and “I had a lousy time.” They ARE a little like Al, though, citing uses of the passive voice that aren’t, and mixing up verbs with adjectives. I think reading old E.B.’s prose would make one a better writer than studying his rules. I like to think it was all Strunk’s fault…

]]> http://ethicsalarms.com/2009/12/19/when-experts-arent-the-ethics-of-competence-and-the-elements-of-style/comment-page-1/#comment-529 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:18:24 +0000 http://ethicsalarms.com/?p=579#comment-529 Now you’ve done it: them’s fighting words. Not only do I admire S&W, I commend it to my students, all of whom would improve their writing lots if they heeded its advice.
As far as split infinitives, I’m always ready to casually split them, in line with S&W’s advice on split infinitives on p. 78: splitting is “a matter of ear.”
And I often start sentences with ‘and’ and ‘but,’ in line with S&W p.90: a conjunction joins words, phrases, clauses, or SENTENCES (emphasis mine).
And I’m thinking, if you’re too hard on S&W, could you also be too hard on Al Gore? Hmmmm.

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