A grammar lesson for Ed
Ed wrote:
Yes, I do! The fact that I got the 5-start ratings on my postings
explaining how you was rude to me, makes me to kind of trust the
google ratings!
(To readers of m.e.l.e: this is a perfect example of how NOT to write
English.)
(P.S. I know I shouldn't do this, but it is just too fun to pass up ;-))
Several comments to explain about why this is not proper grammar:
In English, the word `was' indicates the past participle of `to be' in
the third person singular form /only/. The relevant past participle
(here, we need to be in second person, which corresponds as well to all
plural forms) that you are looking for is `were'.
The construction `to make one' is not followed by the word `to'; what
you need to do is drop that word from the following infinitive.
There is no word called `google' (there is a `googol', as in 10^100). If
you are referring to the company with that name, then your
capitalization should reflect that, as a proper noun [*]: `Google'.
Semantically, that classifies all of your sins; however, your choice of
words is not the most appealing in the world.
`To get' is very slangy, and, seeing as Usenet expects a certain level,
of professionalism, the better verb is `to receive'.
I know of no rating that uses `starts'; are you looking for `star'?
`5' should not be written as a digit (as well as other numbers less than
ten), it is better to use `five' in this case.
On forums, the term `posting' should be eschewed in favor of the word
`post' (shorter noun, and I dislike gerunds as well).
Finally, usage of exclamation points is highly disregarded in Usenet
posts, as it places others' impressions of you as roughly equivalent to
a loud-mouthed twelve-year old kid. Your continual usage of vulgar
language and poor grasps on the basic points of politeness also add to
the impression of a brat.
[*] Well, in recent times, companies have fallen in love with the
non-traditional forms of capitalization, preferring such proper nouns as
`iPod'. The best rule of thumb to follow is to use the official
capitalization rules of the company owning the trademark.
--
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth