Grammar by majority rule!

[gnomi]

[Poll #912599]

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Except that I use email, not e-mail, even though technically it isn't correct. Descriptivists win!

[violetcheetah.livejournal.com]

me, too, and i edit stuff like that for a living. i use e-commerce, and hyphenate everything else, but i run across 'email' more often than 'e-mail,' so i give up. but i shall not surrender to "eCommerce."

[byrne.livejournal.com]

This could be the first time I have no strong opinion. GASP.

If pushed very, very hard, I'd come down on the side of 'and' instead of 'or'.

[jesshartley.livejournal.com]

I think that to debate between two things, you have to be inclusive of them both. To debate two things, would be an or... "He debated whether to use phone or email."

[madfilkentist]

Agreed. Between you and me (or even I), "Between A or B" just doesn't make sense.

[cellio]

Ditto. "Between" takes "and"; a conditional takes "or".

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

Like the snow, hate the cold. You think I can have it both ways? ;-)

You need a "try to do X vs. try and do X" poll. Because I have a pet peeve about the use of "and" there, but not about this. ;-)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

"But try to is precise, and when you are writing formal prose, try and write try to."

-- Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, page 62

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

In general, I'm not A Strunk & White person, but for that I love them. ;-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I'm a "try to" traditionalist (like this is any surprise). But, sure. I can make it the subject of a poll.

[tygerseye.livejournal.com]

I am a "try to" person as well... preserve the infinitive! ;-)

[And go check out my new default icon and tell me if it's still too racy. I'm trying for a compromise. LOL]

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeedy! Someone has to stand up for the infinitive!

[and your new default icon passes the "safe for my office" test. Thanks!]

[eal.livejournal.com]

And we all know how I feel about 'try to.'

:)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Do we? I'm forgetting.

[eal.livejournal.com]

I slam students on this one with great regularlity. It makes me twitch.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure, so I asked Chicago. Yay Chicago.

I think lately you're using examples that for some reason don't feel idiomatic to me.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I can't see how you could be between one thing. You have to be between two things. "Calling and sending" are two things. "Calling or sending" is one thing.

How can you be between one thing?

[sorek.livejournal.com]

re weather: I dislike both Winter and Summer weather, although I dislike Summer weather more, therefore I chose neither "Yay!" nor "Boo!" regarding Winter. Narf, of course, is never too hot, nor too cold.

And now I've got "Time of the Season" stuck in my brain. Right before bedtime too. Thanks a lot gnomi :(

[tober.livejournal.com]

It took me a while to be able to reason systematically about the grammar question, but my intuition always said "and" and not "or" in this case. I have concluded that the reason is that, when forming a phrase using "between", the thing to which "between" refers absolutely must be plural. It cannot be that something is between a singular. The use of the conjunction "and" creates a plural, the use of "or" does not.

[Also, hi there, I'm going to friend you.]