I'm still an English professor. Shoot.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > I'm still an English professor. Shoot.

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

Is the word "expat" pronounced with an A like in "crate" or "cat"? I've gotten different things from different sources.

Also, is it "There are a lot of people there" or "There is a lot of people"?

(For the record, I go with the former in both cases, but the people i'm talking with choose the latter.)

# ¿ May 8, 2009 12:36

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 23:32

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

Naet posted:

"There are a lot" is incorrect because lot is singular.

edit:

I think the problem most people have with the phrase "a lot" is that they treat it like an adjective when it is really a noun.

Drop the prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence and determine if the following is correct: "There are a lot."

Alternatively, you could replace "a lot" with "a group" to highlight why using "are" is wrong: "There are a group of people."

But wouldn't its status as a part of speech change when you use it in this context?

# ¿ May 8, 2009 18:08

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

Brainworm posted:

Consider the backstory implied by each of these:

The bridesmaid* held the bouquet in front of her swollen belly, weeping silently.

--------------------

* Who I broke up with last Fall.

The bridesmaid (who I broke up with last Fall) held the bouquet in front of her swollen belly, weeping silently.

The bridesmaid, who I broke up with last Fall, held the bouquet in front of her swollen belly, weeping silently.

The bridesmaid -- who I broke up with last Fall -- held the bouquet in front of her swollen belly, weeping silently.

The bridesmaid held the bouquet in front of her swollen belly, weeping silently. I broke up with her last Fall.

You can also use dashes to emphasize trailing clauses -- they draw readers' attention in a way that semicolons or pure sentence stops don't. But overusing them kills this effect.

Even if you don't want to because you're a highly intelligent English professor who basically gets to write the rules on using grammar, shouldn't you use "whom" in the first three sentences, instead of "who"? Or am I reading this improperly?

billion dollar bitch fucked around with this message at 18:45 on May 30, 2009

# ¿ May 30, 2009 18:20

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

aneurysm posted:

Page 8 of this thread. You should read this thread, it's interesting.

I read the thread. I was just checking the actual rule.

I guess I should rephrase the question: Despite Brainworm's unwillingness to use "whom" (because he's an English professor and thus gets to ignore the rules), would the indicated portions have been an appropriate place to use it? Or is my grammatical spider sense tingling in the wrong places?

billion dollar bitch fucked around with this message at 00:40 on May 31, 2009

# ¿ May 31, 2009 00:34

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

Jeb Bush 2012 posted:

Isn't it more of an indictment of Belgian Imperialism? (and a fairly specific incident of it, at that)

Ah yes, it was a greenstick fracture, not a comminuted fracture. Never mind that the Belgian Congo exported rubber and not ivory and that the river is never named and that it's told by an Englishman by a (Polish-born) Englishman, in English, with all the main characters being English. Greenstick, yes...

# ¿ Jun 30, 2009 19:35

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

While I do regret the tone of my previous post (it was, frankly, just plain rude, and I apologize), I think you would have a hard time saying that Heart of Darkness was written solely to indict the Belgian Congo. Firstly, because the atrocities committed in the Belgian Congo don't crop up in Heart of Darkness (no amputations, no kidnapping of wives, etc). Secondly, because Heart of Darkness is sketched in such inclusive terms (French destroyers, British expedition, Belgian company), it's hard not to see it as a commentary on all of European imperialism. I think that it focuses a lot on the British mindset, as the main characters are British, the narration happens in Britain, et cetera, but Conrad said, "All Europe had a hand in the making of Kurtz" (or something to that effect).

# ¿ Jul 1, 2009 01:27

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 23:32

billion dollar bitch: Jul 20, 2005; To drink and fight.
To fuck all night.

drat, Bookworm, you really love the stand, don't you.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2009 16:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > I'm still an English professor. Shoot.