2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition

2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - Printable Version

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2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - BostonCard - 01-11-2016

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/97178/2015-top-performances-christian-mccaffrey

What is likely to be the first of many (Big Game, P12 Championship, and Rose Bowl, to list three others).

BC

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - doublespiral - 01-11-2016

Quote:But this was really the first time in 2015 that the nation really saw what McCaffrey was capable of.

Fun to revisit, though my 4th grade English teacher would not be happy. The above sentence alone may drive some members of this board to distraction.Â :)

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CompSci87 - 01-11-2016

Really!

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - Trevmiesterj - 01-11-2016

Quote:But this was really the first time in 2015 that the nation really saw what McCaffrey was really capable of.

Fixed!

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - doublespiral - 01-12-2016

It eludes me how hacks like this get paid for drivel while guys like Hank write circles around them for free.

I know SEO rewards posts that read at a comprehension level similar to a Trump speech, but does it also reward starting a sentence with a conjunction, ending it with a preposition, and sprinkling in extraneous repetition?

I really hope not.

{Descends from his pedantic pedestal.}

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CTcard - 01-13-2016

(01-12-2016, 11:03 PM)doublespiral link Wrote:It eludes me how hacks like this get paid for drivel while guys like Hank write circles around them for free.

I know SEO rewards posts that read at a comprehension level similar to a Trump speech, but does it also reward starting a sentence with a conjunction, ending it with a preposition, and sprinkling in extraneous repetition?

I thought everyone was now over the strange prohibition on ending a sentence with a preposition.

Starting with a conjunction is another issue. In informal writing, a lot of people do this in order to use the break in sentences as a sort of super-comma. I think this happens because people are scared of semicolons, though often a comma is plenty. I would cop to doing it a few times myself. Whether the Pac 12 blog qualifies as an informal setting is not so clear. It is a bit much that Mr. Gemmell did so three times in a row in that blog post. That's rather impressive in a perverse kind of way.

Still, all in all, I wouldn't put Kevin Gemmell atop the list of hacks writing about sports on the internet.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - washingtonismoney - 01-13-2016

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. (Churchill)

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - stupac2 - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 06:47 AM)CTcard link Wrote:I thought everyone was now over the strange prohibition on ending a sentence with a preposition.

I rather like that some people are still attached to it. It's a fantastic way to find out who doesn't know anything about English writing.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - Velodoc - 01-13-2016

I'm fairly certain that such an English grammar debate doesn't occur on the 'Bama or Clemson website.Â :)

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CompSci87 - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 09:12 AM)washingtonismoney link Wrote:Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. (Churchill)

I've always heard the Churchill quote phrased to say the opposite: Saying that a sentence must not end with a preposition is nonsense up with which I will not put.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - oldalum - 01-13-2016

(01-12-2016, 11:03 PM)doublespiral link Wrote:Starting with a conjunction is another issue.

But when I started seeing this multiple times on the front page of the New York Times, I figured it was ok. Am I wrong?

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - doublespiral - 01-13-2016

OK, I'll concede about my peeve with the stranded preposition. I'm not sure if my grandfather - a journalism teacher when he was alive - would forgive me. If he catches up with me in some form of the afterlife, I'm blaming you guys.

I'm all for the evolution of language. I don't even mind starting a sentence with a conjunction in the proper setting. But his usage seemed a tad excessive. :)

(BTW, the supposed Churchill quotation appears to be incorrectly attributed: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001715.html.)

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CornFed - 01-13-2016

I was always under the impression that, between starting a sentence with a conjunction and ending a sentence with a preposition, the latter was the far more egregious sin.Â No?

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - Extra Point - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 06:47 AM)CTcard link Wrote:Starting with a conjunction is another issue. In informal writing, a lot of people do this in order to use the break in sentences as a sort of super-comma. I think this happens because people are scared of semicolons, though often a comma is plenty. I would cop to doing it a few times myself. Whether the Pac 12 blog qualifies as an informal setting is not so clear. It is a bit much that Mr. Gemmell did so three times in a row in that blog post. That's rather impressive in a perverse kind of way.

Most style guides have changed their position on beginning a sentence with a conjunction.

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/can-i-start-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CornFed - 01-13-2016

"They think you cant handle the freedom of using conjunctions!"

But they can't take away our FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CTcard - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 11:54 AM)Extra Point link Wrote:Most style guides have changed their position on beginning a sentence with a conjunction.

In most cases where somebody actually would end a sentence with a preposition, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason not to do so.

In most cases where somebody begins a sentence with a conjunction, they are trying to join the thought of that sentence to the previous sentence. Usually that is properly done within a single sentence. Sometimes one can make an impact on emphasis or style by breaking the conjoined thoughts into two sentences. I think this would qualify as using the sentence break as a super-comma, as I mentioned above. Doing that all of the time, or doing so when a strong break is not necessarily intended, tends to dilute the impact of the non-standard usage.

So I would agree that one has the freedom to start sentences with conjunctions, but one should use that freedom wisely. For example, I would agree with doublespiral that the first six sentences by Kevin Gemmel after "A closer look:" are notably disjointed and distract from following his thoughts.Â

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CornFed - 01-13-2016

When I am writing with intent and more concerned with all this, I find that if either of these issues arise, it is a red flag that I should probably find a different way to express the point.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - standfan - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 11:54 AM)Extra Point link Wrote:[quote author=CTcard link=topic=14361.msg152665#msg152665 date=1452692836]
Starting with a conjunction is another issue. In informal writing, a lot of people do this in order to use the break in sentences as a sort of super-comma. I think this happens because people are scared of semicolons, though often a comma is plenty. I would cop to doing it a few times myself. Whether the Pac 12 blog qualifies as an informal setting is not so clear. It is a bit much that Mr. Gemmell did so three times in a row in that blog post. That's rather impressive in a perverse kind of way.

Most style guides have changed their position on beginning a sentence with a conjunction.

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/can-i-start-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction
[/quote]

I have a pet peeve to discuss with the above posters, who I refer to as "Cardboarders". Some would say I just committed a sin by not referring to you as "Cardboarders." This issue comes up quite often in the drafting of agreements and other legal documents, but since the punctuation mark is not part of the defined term, I break the rule.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - CTcard - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 01:10 PM)standfan link Wrote:I have a pet peeve to discuss with the above posters, who I refer to as "Cardboarders". Some would say I just committed a sin by not referring to you as "Cardboarders." This issue comes up quite often in the drafting of agreements and other legal documents, but since the punctuation mark is not part of the defined term, I break the rule.

I think you missed something in one of the two words you put in quotation marks. The only difference I can see is a period inside the quotation in one and outside in the other. That wouldn't appear to be the question at hand.
Maybe my eyes are getting old.

EDIT: Never mind.
But, I have to admit I never knew there was an issue with periods and quotation marks. Growing up in a Commonwealth country I guess I only knew the British rule quoted below - which makes perfect sense to me.

Re: 2015 top performances: Christian McCaffrey edition - Rally - 01-13-2016

(01-13-2016, 12:49 PM)CornFed link Wrote:When I am writing with intent and more concerned with all this, I find that if either of these issues arise, it is a red flag that I should probably find a different way to express the point.

Absolutely agree.Â But of primary importance to me is the ability to clearly communicate.Â If proper Grammer gets in the way, out it goes.Â Ya know?