Today's grammar lesson

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  • #609513
    haifagirl
    Participant

    Today’s lesson is about misplaced modifiers, which is one of my many pet peeves.

    The word “only” is frequently misused. Here’s an example straight from a YWN article:

    Parents in Beit Shemesh are only required to pay 290 NIS for the ten-lesson program.

    According to this, the only thing parents are required to do is pay 290 NIS.

    They are not required to get their children to the lessons.

    They are not required to feed or house their children.

    They are not required to provide adequate clothing for their children.

    They are not required to send their children to school.

    No, the only thing they are required to do is pay 290 NIS.

    A more accurate sentence would be “Parents in Beit Shemesh are required to pay only 290 NIS for the ten-lesson program.”

    See what I did? I moved the word “only” so that it modifies the price and not the parents’ requirements.

    #956519

    Do you only have this issue with YWN? 🙂

    #956520
    2scents
    Participant

    Thanks.

    #956521
    akuperma
    Participant

    From a dikduk perspective, “only” is quite correct. The author is stating his/her belief that 290 shekels is a low price for the service offered. It implies the parents are getting a good deal. The author may be totally treff when it comes to facts, but from a grammar perspective he’s glatt kosher.

    #956522
    Oh Shreck!
    Participant

    Thank you, teacher.

    (recess time)

    #956523
    be good
    Participant

    Like

    #956524
    Nechomah
    Participant

    Haifagirl, while you are right and bad grammar bothers me also, only an idiot would make any of the assumptions you list in your post.

    #956525
    TheGoq
    Participant

    Oh Shreck! I’ve got pb&j for lunch you wanna trade?

    #956526
    Keenanp
    Member

    lol! Here I thought I was going to learn some Hebrew.

    #956527

    Hebrew leson of the day:

    Remwmber there is ????? and ???. And ghe difference between them. Example: My friend had the misfortune to have forgotten her hebrew, so when she went to israel with her husband and two kids for the summer, she made alot of mistakes.

    Asking the bus driver how much it was for a husband, her, her girlfriend and 2 kids.

    ( ???, ???, ??? ???, ???? ?????)

    Can you spot thd mistake that had the whole bus laughing? (- point for corect answer, TWO if you write what she should of said, THREE if you spell it correctly)

    Is thag good enoigh for a lesdon in hebrew?

    #956528

    Btw its nice seeing you again….haifagirl…

    do u rlly live in chaifa?????

    Did you see the spell checker poem..?????

    Ill try to repost it, its on a old thread

    #956529

    Here it is: originally by getzel1 3 yrs ago ereposted by dasyochid last year. Reposted by me this year…its rlly cute, enjoy

    getzel1 Adds much humor here 🙂 Spell Checkers – a little Poem. A Little Poem Regarding Computer Spell Checkers…

    Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea sea

    It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

    Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say

    Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.

    As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long

    And eye can put the error rite Its rare lea ever wrong.

    Eye have run this poem threw it I am shore your pleased two no

    Its letter perfect awl the weigh My chequer tolled me sew.

    POSTED 2 YEARS AGO #

    #956530
    SaysMe
    Member

    putting the only right before the price is used to imply it’s a cheap price (or, if used sarcastically, expensive). The way it was used was grammatically acceptable, though yes it IS an ambiguous sentence.

    In other news, the first letter of every word besides determiners and conjunctions (anything else?) should be capitalized in a title- AKA Title Case :). Yes, i’m teasing

    #956531
    haifagirl
    Participant

    From a dikduk perspective, “only” is quite correct. The author is stating his/her belief that 290 shekels is a low price for the service offered. It implies the parents are getting a good deal. The author may be totally treff when it comes to facts, but from a grammar perspective he’s glatt kosher.

    I suggest you look up “misplaced modifier.” Two hundred ninety shekels is a good price, and it deserves an “only.” But to say the only thing parents have to do is pay implies there is nothing else they have to do.

    #956532
    haifagirl
    Participant

    Do you only have this issue with YWN? 🙂

    Cute!

    If your question is whether or not I have this issue only with YWN, the answer is “no.” In fact, just this morning I e-mailed The Daily Mail to let them know they had improperly used “who” instead of “whom” in one of their headlines.

    If your question is whether or not I have only this issue with YWN, the answer is “no.” I have a problem with many of the posts the mods let through.

    If your question is, as stated, whether or not I only have this issue with YWN, again, the answer is “no.” I have a lot of things: good health, happiness, love from Hashem and many other wonderful things in my life.

    #956533
    haifagirl
    Participant

    Haifagirl, while you are right and bad grammar bothers me also, only an idiot would make any of the assumptions you list in your post.

    It was not a list of assumptions. The article stated the only thing the parents have to do was pay the money. That means there is nothing else in the entire universe the parents have to do. That includes everything. I could have made the list a lot longer.

    #956534
    haifagirl
    Participant

    do u rlly live in chaifa?????

    Yes.

    Did you see the spell checker poem..?????

    Yes.

    #956535

    Cool, are you really a girl?

    Why havent i seen you on in so long?

    do you speak hebrew?

    We could make a hebrew gramner lesson of the day!

    #956536
    haifagirl
    Participant

    Cool, are you really a girl?

    Yes, I am.

    Why havent i seen you on in so long?

    I don’t know. And I’m sure you must realize that “I” should be capitalized.

    do you speak hebrew?

    Very poorly. Also, the first word in a sentence (Do) should be capitalized and so should the names of languages (Hebrew).

    We could make a hebrew gramner lesson of the day!

    We could if I knew what “gramner” was.

    #956537
    wanderingchana
    Participant

    I would think “for the ten-lesson program” would put it in context.

    #956538
    smartcookie
    Member

    Haifa, I’m enjoying your humor! Oh, and your grammar lessons too! I love finding grammar mistakes…

    #956539
    moi aussi
    Member

    haifagirl, shouldn’t your name be spelled with a capital letter? Besides for it being your username, it’s also the name of a town, so in both cases, a capital letter is required.

    #956540

    Hey, give a teen a break, i type fast plus my spell-check does the oppisite of what its suppposed to do…..plus as long as this resembles english and ppl can read it, i dont feel like doing all that boring stuff…..

    so do you know hebrew grammer as well as english?

    My friends favorite topic is grammer, they talk about it day and night, how do you say ?? (back) plural?????

    1. ???? (with a vais)

    2. ???? (with a beis)

    3.???? (with a vais)

    or 4. ???? (with a bais)

    Its impossible to follow hebrew grammer

    did you know every verb in modern hebrew has 103 different ways of being said depending ob past, future, command, present, male, female, and to whom you are talking to? And dont youvDARE mix any of them up….

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