Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Parellel construction

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2008/03/var-yahoo-shortcuts-yahoo_24.html

Lee writes:

>Hooper, You are showing that you not only go ga-ga over tacky board members and write dippy puff pieces about one, La Falliero, but you demonstrate in this banal question above that you also lack subtlety of thought. <

Strunk & White write:

Correlative expressions (both, and; not, but; not only, but also; either, or; first, second, third; and the like) should be followed by the same grammatical construction.

A time not for words but action. [Incorrect]
A time not for words but for action. [Correct]


Edit:

Hooper, you are showing that you not only go ga-ga over tacky board members and write dippy puff pieces about one, La Falliero, but also demonstrate in this banal question above that you lack subtlety of thought.

or

Hooper, you are not only showing that you go ga-ga over tacky board members and write dippy puff pieces about one, La Falliero, but also demonstrating in this banal question above that you lack subtlety of thought.

The real problem is that this rot is tautologous.

>You are showing that you ... demonstrate in this banal question ...<

Further edit:

Hooper, you are showing not only that you go ga-ga over tacky board members and write dippy puff pieces about one, La Falliero, but also in this banal question above that you lack subtlety of thought.

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