It isn't the sentence starting with 'but' that causes me to snag, but the following of that word with a comma. People sometimes say it with a pause, but seeing it written like that gives the impression that I'm being asked to speak like the writer.

Re. 'grasp the nettle': this comes from an old saying, "Grasp the nettle firmly and it won't sting" (which, I can testify from personal experience, does work)

Alex

For pedants - http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/

I don't like too many 'ing' words, and remember reading somwehere ages ago, and also in a list of editing tips from George Orwell, that one should try to get rid of them.

I have to say that 'as she ran down the road', reads much better to me than 'as she was running down the road' but it's down to personal taste too.

Same with 'was'. I do try to rephrase passive sentences, but you can't omit every 'was', because as Emma pointed out, things like 'she was so angry' can't really be phrased any other way!

I think we can all get caught up in the so called writing rules, and maybe we should just write in a way that is natural to us and relax a bit.

Kat x

but you can't omit every 'was',

Agreed, just be aware tha one can get into a blind spot where they become overused - same with 'had's, eg, just spotted a sentence in someone's mss that have 4! 'was's.

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oops, 'have' = 'had'

just spotted a sentence in someone's mss that have 4! 'was's.

Sounds like someone who doesn't read their work aloud. That kind of thing becomes embarrassingly obvious when you do.

Emma

Sounds like someone who doesn't read their work aloud.

Speaking as a writer who has to concentrate quite hard to stop inadvertently blurting my thoughts; if I had had to have had read every piece of work aloud before having had it read by another, I would have had some strange looks indeed.

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PS: Thanks, Alex, for prompting me to spend an entertaining few minutes on Google hoping, in vain, to prove you wrong!

Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your pains: Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains.

An ex-colleague of mine, an English teacher, used to speak of things as 'heart-rendering', which made me laugh at the image it conjured up. She was from the Ukraine and we all suspected she'd made it up about having a degree. They never seemed to check in those days.

Sheila

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Sorry, that not really a wrongly-applied technical wotsit.

To be fair, extracting a heart so as to render it for the fat it contains is likely to be at least as fatal as rending it in two with a sharp axe.

Both versions, to me at least, convey a certain amount of distress.

Another friend says tacky-turn for taciturn, presumably because she's read it but never heard it spoken. It's a shame, because she really likes the word. There's no analogy with the other example because you can't really argue that they mean much the same, but the mental image is comical.

I knew the nettle rhyme as a child, but heard it as 'grasp it like a man of metal', because I'd never seen the written version.

Sheila

Some mispronunciations have a charm all their own. I am permanently indebted to a friend who wanted to buy a picture-skew cottage in Cornwall. I really have to think now to say picturesque. Equally, there is a wonderful sense of meaning in the term veg-eatable.

I don't like inferred used as though it meant implied.

Talking of mispronunciations, there are some words which i saw beofre i heard - when young - and so mispronounce if i don't check myself.
Eg, hyperbole (hyper -bowl)

Re. grasping nettles. I think I should add that it only works if you grip the stem of the nettle very firmy (and quickly) between your thumb and forefinger. This crushes the hairs that do the stinging, and stops them working. (Yes, I did try this when I was a kid, having read it in a science book, and no, the nettle didn't sting me.) If you were to grab one in your fist, as the term 'grasp' might be understood, you'd be likely to get stung very badly.

Alex

Hi, can I jump in here and say hello!
My husband is the original Mr Malaprop, he gets words wrong all the time. My favourite one was when I was learning to drive and he told all our friends that my driving was 'erotic'.

One thing I've noticed used frequently nowadays, especially on tv, in the papers etc, is the expression "different to..." In my teaching days (long ago admittedly) we always taught that it had to be "different from..."

Pat

Once, my mum was reading out a horoscope and announced 'your plans will go oary'. She meant 'awry' but clearly had not come across the word before. 'Awry' has been pronounced 'oary' in our family since then.

Not quite on topic, but do you know those things you can make out of cornflakes and chocolate sauce? They're called Crack-o-lates (ha ha) and my cousin gave Mum the recipe years ago. It was hand-written, and the o and l were run together. Consequently, these delicious confections have been known as Crackdates in our family ever since.

My mum wasn't as stupid as I'm making her sound, bless her . . .

Jan

To be seasonal, that's a bit like how when little I used to sing Good King Wenceslas, second verse.

Hither Page and stand by me
If thy nose is swelling

I still struggle with the proper version!