[ARC5] Some nonsense about drifts and the English language. (Was bearings for DM-28 dynamotors)

[john rose]

Isn’t we all gotten some good English gramer lesson?!






From: D C _Mac_ Macdonald
Sent: ‎Wednesday‎, ‎November‎ ‎26‎, ‎2014 ‎2‎:‎29‎ ‎PM
To: john rose





I think it might have been Churchill who made a comment "It is a situation up with which I will not put." as a demo of grammatical absurdity.  
 
Mac, K2GKK in OKC, OK

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 26, 2014, at 12:35, john rose <brokenthumb at live.com> wrote:

I’m sure it was he (not “him”, right?) 

Correct. He is the ‘subjective’ form, him is the ‘objective’ form.

address at the BBC to send my observations to. 

I believe you ended the sentence with a preposition. Try “address at the BBC to which I will send my observations.”






From: Roy Morgan
Sent: ‎Wednesday‎, ‎November‎ ‎26‎, ‎2014 ‎11‎:‎03‎ ‎AM
To: Leslie Smith
Cc: arc5, AKLDGUY .






> On Nov 26, 2014, at 12:05 AM, Leslie Smith <vk2bcu at operamail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Neil, I suffered hours, nay days, of terror at the hands of my
> English teacher, (Mrs) Nancy Collis. ...
> If I'm wrong the ghost of Nancy Colliss will appear at the foot of my
> bed around mid-night, and terrorize me.

Les,

I must have had a teacher with similar ways.  I know my physics teacher was very precise about words and their meanings.  I’m sure it was he (not “him”, right?) who started my interest in clear and accurate speech and writing.

I often read “the news” on the BBC news website.  The BBC, mind you.
http://www.bbc.com/news/
There have been many times when I noticed inaccuracies in grammar, some of the sort that your Mrs. Collis harped upon.  I sometimes share the goofs I find with a friend who is an editor at US News and World Report, and who also is sensitive to use of words.  I often detect sentences with an adverbial phrase that is intended to describe the main subject of the sentence, and find that the subject of the phrase and the subject of the sentence do not match.

I can make up an example:  “Having thrown a fast ball right into the sweet spot over the plate, Ted Williams knocked it over the Fenway Park midfield fence.”  (I was in Boston listening to both the radio and the crowd when he did this in his retirement game.)

Here is an example I sent my editor friend from another very British site:

------------------
I’ve been interested to see the website of the oldest manufacturer of church bells in England, John Taylor Foundry in Loughborough.  Their web site text is quite British and something of a delight to read.  But not all is well.  See the link below for what seems to be an error:

http://www.taylorbells.co.uk/web/?q=node/68

"Dorridge, Solihull, West Midlands:-   The R C Church of SS George & Teresa at Dorridge has had a new bell weighing 3 cwts cast at Taylor's. It has been hung for stationary chiming with an electro-magnetic chiming hammer and programmable control unit. Having been hung on an exterior wall of this modern church, Taylor's have now been commissioned to manufacture and install a wooden gable roof structure to protect the installation.”

Shouldn’t this be:
“… Having hung the bell on an exterior wall … , Taylor’s have now been commissioned … “?
---------------

Ah well, I made a mistake last year myself. I think I will find some email address at the BBC to send my observations to.  Their editing needs improvement.


So, for a little ARC-5 specific content, we could say:

“The ARC-5 radios we have are approaching 70 years of age.  Their capacitors may now show dangerous leakage.”
not:
“Being now 70 years old and possibly leaky, we should be careful about the capacitors.”

Although this last version *could* be accurate though a bit unclear, if changed slightly to:
“Being now 70 years old, we should be careful about leaking capacitors.”
I was born in 1944, am now 70 years old, and am careful about the capacitors.  I do not leak, however.

Lastly, I have written a “diatribe” about capacitor leakage testing and reforming.  I’ll be glad to send it to anyone interested.



Roy




Roy Morgan
RoyMorgan at alum.mit.edu
K1LKY Since 1958

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