[geeks] Vocabulary and grammar
Micah R Ledbetter
vlack-lists at vlack.com
Thu Apr 12 15:56:19 CDT 2007
der Mouse wrote:
>>> Big words - complex sentence structure.
>> About complex sentence structure, I have two things to say. [...]
>
> In English grammar, "complex" as applied to sentences is a technical
> term, referring to a specific type of construction ("a sentence
> containing one or more dependent clauses in addition to the main
> clause" - quoted from dictionary.com).
Ah, I see... I didn't realize that (I use a different word for the same
idea).
> Whether that is what the person who wrote "complex sentence structure"
> meant is not clear to me, but it seems plausible, at least, and if it
> is, talking about complexity in the everyday sense of the word is more
> or less irrelevant to it.
Well, OK, but what I was trying to communicate - that it is a poor
measure of education, intelligence, language usability, etc - still
stands. The number of dependent clauses is not a good metric for this.
In fact, there is no way to compare one dialect to another common and
determine which one is better or smarter (or ...), because there is no
such thing as a "better" language or dialect.
- Micah
More information about the geeks
mailing list