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| Critique and Advice Works seeking critique, advice or assistance. |
09-29-2007, 12:52 AM
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#16
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,632
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Quote:
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even in the middle of a sentence, 'there was a handful of people' is poor writing.
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Just not true. Either construction is valid. Depends on the context and the writer's style.
"Every time I went to the bar there was a handful of people crowding around the restroom stalls buying coke."
To change that to "a handful of people were" is grammaticaly incorrect.
To change it to "a handful of people was crowding around" doesn't sound right.
Original question: it's "was", to agree with handful. When it doubt, pull out the phrases...in this case "of people" and see how it reads without the modifying phrases. |
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09-29-2007, 04:53 AM
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#17
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Mentor
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Location, Location
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,833
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mammamaia
i'm american, and i wouldn't, either...
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Yes, but you don't even capitalise "I". 
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Born naked, helpless, unable to care for himself and completely open-minded, Non Serviam has subsequently surmounted all these difficulties and gone on to become a decently-clothed, self-sufficient, close-minded sod.
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09-29-2007, 12:16 PM
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#18
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Deep in the woods of Great Lakes farm country
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
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Break it down. People was - People were. Which one sounds right?
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09-29-2007, 12:18 PM
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#19
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Mentor
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Location, Location
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,833
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"People" is plural and takes "were". But "a handful of people" is singular and takes "was".
__________________
Born naked, helpless, unable to care for himself and completely open-minded, Non Serviam has subsequently surmounted all these difficulties and gone on to become a decently-clothed, self-sufficient, close-minded sod.
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09-29-2007, 06:36 PM
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#20
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Wordsmith
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Back 'home' on Tinian!
Gender: Female
Posts: 11,445
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perfect grammar does not always = 'good [creative] writing'...
non-s, i do cap it when writing 'formally'... unless, of course, i'm writing a poem in all-lower case a la cummings... 
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09-29-2007, 08:25 PM
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#21
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Scribe
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 52
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It is a proper title - that is why you capitalize it. Unfortunately, preference for the individual does not play into it. Just like you need to capitalize Attorney General when referring to the specific person, or the Judge when referring to a specific judge. (notice the capitalization?) Dems da rulez. =) Not that any of it has much play on what we do with our English language.
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09-29-2007, 09:19 PM
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#22
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,632
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Quote:
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Break it down. People was - People were. Which one sounds right?
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Remarkably wrong, especially in view of the post right above yours. The "of people" is a phrase applied to the subject....which is "handful". |
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10-11-2007, 11:33 PM
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#23
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Deep in the woods of Great Lakes farm country
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
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Geez, lin, that's right. Sorry, CFuller. Brain slip, there. I've been listening (obsessively) to old Boz Scaggs songs for several days. I'll blame it on that!
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10-12-2007, 03:26 AM
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#24
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,632
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Cool, which song?
THe big lesson here is: there's no such thing as a "quick grammar question" around here.
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10-12-2007, 07:28 AM
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#25
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: England, the beautiful southwest.
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,122
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mammamaia
...even in the middle of a sentence, 'there was a handful of people' is poor writing... better would be, 'a handful of people were'.. in that case, 'were' referring to the people, not a handful...
...unless you are writing something like, 'there was just a handful of people at the exhibit that night' or whatever... 'just' would make it work, where the plain 'there was a' doesn't really...
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what a load of rubbish. |
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10-12-2007, 02:11 PM
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#26
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Deep in the woods of Great Lakes farm country
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
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"Lowdown," lin. The best thing he did in my humble opinion. Sierra isn't bad, either.
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10-12-2007, 08:05 PM
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#27
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,632
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Ah, yeah. Haven't heard that in a while. I thought Slow Dancer was his real high point, but had all his earlier albums. I really dig Moments, also. Always flashes me back to that era in the Bay Area. Silk Degrees was the best seller, though. One major cool guy, all the way around.
Hard to believe he and Elvin Bishop were in the band with Steve Miller all at once.
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10-13-2007, 12:26 AM
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#28
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Deep in the woods of Great Lakes farm country
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
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Wow. I'm having flashbacks. Where did the days of Dylan and Mitchell go? Thank God they still exist on YouTube. Makes me wish I still had a turntable and could play Soft Parade. Not the perfection of a CD, the real one with all the scratches. Those were the days.
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10-13-2007, 11:44 AM
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#29
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Wordsmith
Join Date: May 2007
Location: On islands
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,632
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See, that's the downside of nostalgia. Those words immediately made me think of Melanie |
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10-13-2007, 11:11 PM
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#30
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Addict
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Deep in the woods of Great Lakes farm country
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
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Isn't that the great thing about nostalgia, though. One song can conjure up a different image for everyone who hears it. When I hear Donna Summer, my thoughts go straight to the Paragon Dance Hall in Aspen where I spent a night waiting for the locksmith to come down off the slopes and let me into my car. The Archies: A guy just back from Vietnam who came and went so fast I can't even remember his name. BeeGees: the record store next door that turned up the music as soon as the boss went home.
Ain't memory grand?
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