Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.
"It is my father who left me there."The basic sentence is:
"My father left me there."I probably don't need to explain why the basic sentence is better style, so unless you're translating Coptic to English or need to emphasize something or other despite the attendant wordiness, avoid the cleft sentence.
Labels: Grammar
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 12:05 AM
2 comments
I am a retired professor. I last taught at Ewha Womans University, mostly composition, research writing, and cultural issues, but also the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history. My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism. I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested. I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries. Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."
2 Comments:
Subjects and predicates! Something doing something!
Just say "NO!" to the passive voice.
Shout it from the rooftops!
It is true. The passive should be avoided.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Post a Comment
<< Home