[Ilugc] Rules of English Grammar
- From: ramanraj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Ramanraj K)
- Date: Wed Nov 3 08:59:48 2004
A vaguely similar form exists among people who, though quite well
educated, think it is essential to spell on email / messenger etc like
they failed their english exams somewhere around std IV and then stopped
learning english after that ...
English is a proper noun written with a capital letter at the beginning.
Sorry about the mistake there: "proper noun" is a Proper Noun ;) (OK.
Is it really so? Who maintains the official rules of English and where
are they written down ? Answers may closely match the search for
official linux kernel or official gcc :) Poets deliberately revolt
against rules, and looks like many modern users are like our poets! [2]
The classic work, "The King's English" by H.W. Fowler is available on
line at
http://www.bartleby.com/116/ and makes very interesting
reading. If anyone here is *seriously* interested in the rules of
English grammar, please write functions that could help programs to
write well. If such a library of functions is already available as free
software, please point links to it. I have written a few functions in
php that could give plural for singular and feminine for masculine, that
works like this[1]:
function get_plural($singular){
// returns plural of $singular
...
return $plural
}
GCIDE at
http://www.ibiblio.org/webster/ is fairly mature, and it is
quite possible to write many useful functions with help from GCIDE, that
could ultimately help programs to write and read English, like we do, or
maybe much better :)
Thanks,
Ramanraj.
[1]english_grammar.php at
http://gborg.postgresql.org/project/calpp/cvs/cvs.php/calpp/src/base?Horde=b49782a19f728b0c37b54e955a2fceb9
[2] Poets would always find ways to bend or even break rules to carve a
space for themselves. It would be interesting to read Abraham Cowley's
`Ode: of Liberty':
<quote>
/Where honour or where conscience does not bind,
No other law shall shackle me,
Slave to myself I will not be;
Nor shall my future action be confin'd,
By my own present mind.
Who by resolved and vows engag'd does stand,
For days, that belong to fate,
Does like an unthrift mortgage his estate,
Before it falls into his hand,
The bondman of the cloister so,
All that he does receive does always owe,
And still as time comes in, it goes away,
Not to enjoy, but debts to pay,
Unhappy slave, and pupil to a bell!
Which his hour's work as well as hours does tell,
Unhappy till the last, the kind releasing knell./
</quote>
Samuel Johnson sharply criticised Cowley for careless use of `_does_'
many times in the above poem ! Probably Cowley deliberately used
'_does_' many times to revolt against the rules to make a visible show
of the exercise of his `Liberty'. But it _does_ help to know the rules
and be aware of its violations - atleast to give meaning to our `Liberty'.
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