Shoddy.

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/ms.html

>If Le Gonzalez Esquire does any of the following more serious infractions than the four listed above and turned down as too flimsy for punishment by the Florida Bar, expect to get another complaint if Mr Gonzalez descends to the following barbarisms:<

If Vinegartits writes poorly, she should expect a mouthful if Vinegartits writes poorly.

>listed above and turned down as too flimsy for punishment by the Florida Bar<
Flabby passive voice.

>Very, very respectfully yours<
Redundant adverb.

Bad day for grammar and punctuation

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-spent-another-several-hours-with.html



>Erwin meanwhile is documenting that a lot of the schools are built on bad land, water being a particular problem. <



Possessive before your stupid gerunds, Vinegertits.



Erwin meanwhile is documenting that a lot of the schools are built on bad land, water's being a particular problem.



>I talked to Sam shortly before he died to find out about a guy whom ROSSAC had crucified, who had won his case, but then saw ROSSAC not restore him to his job but put him to teaching prisoners.<



"Who had won his case" is restrictive: no comma.





>That’s the kind of background that the Hillsborough County School Board counts as superintendent material, turning down Columbia PH.D.s with wide experience, considerable publishing, and fluent in three languages. <



With ... fluent in three languages? No. Parallel construction dictates "and fluency in three languages".



>The board covered its ass in a sham “nation-wide” search and billed the taxpayers $35,000 to cover their dishonest tracks. Entering ROSSAC just infects people.<



The board starts off singular and ends up plural. Covers its dishonest tracks. "Just" is a superfluous valley girl adverb against which Strunk &White inveighs. Innit, Vinegartits?



>In fact Ms. Elia created and the board signed off on a boutique job for him the last few months of his employment so that he could dither in comfort until he decided to exit. <



Do you know the truth? State it. Strunk & White suggests you do. Ditch this crap.



>He mistook the difference between “your” and “you’re” to give you some idea of his level of linguistic sophistication.<



No, he didn't. But it does. Comma needed.

Colons, colons everwhere!

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/polly-pile-into-board-meeting-sign-up.html



>Polly, in regard to your message below: pile into the board meeting, sign up to speak, go to the mike when La Belle Dame sans Merci Falliera recognizes you, and then squawk.<

As Vinegartits often writes, a complete sentence should always precede a colon.



Here is yet another example of her lack of attention to detail. Slack, slack, slack. God forbid anyone puts a comma out of place.

An early classic

This is beautiful. It's one of Lee's earliest blog entries, and it provides a link to her grammargrinch blog.

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2006/06/despicable-performances-by-public.html

>http://www.%20grammargrinch.blogspot.com/This blog tears into the grammar-punctuation-style and sometimes political errors of the NYTimes. Washington Post, Boston Globe, and LA Times. I don't pick on the little papers--just the big, important ones and the big, important columnists. Oddly enough, the site has a steady stream of hits from the people who work at these papers. They do want to write well, and most of them do not have training in grammar and punctuation and want to learn those skills.<

Even back then Vinegartits was picking on the grammar and punctuation of others while making clangers herself. Use commas to separate items in a list rather than periods, and proofread your work if you are to throw stones at others from your glass house.

Basic stuff

http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/some-have-asked-about-getting-data-on.html

Here are some more Vinegartits classics:

>Steve Heggarty is the head person (He replaced Marc Hart when the administration-board booted the latter out for alleged alcoholism but really to cover up the affair with La Falliero) to keep her reputation spotless and to keep the public from knowing the board and administration tolerate and even cultivate hanky panky on the job.<

Remove the parenthesis:

Steve Heggarty is the head person to keep her reputation spotless and to keep the public from knowing the board and administration tolerate and even cultivate hanky panky on the job.

Twit.

>Heggarty got the head job not because he was qualified (he lacked the experience factor) but because he had covered the schools for the SPT and had played kissy poo with the administration and wrote puff pieces.<

Wordy. Edit: He lacked experience.

>Steve is not on the ball. His assistant, Linda Cobbe (who had also applied of the job) is.<

There is no excuse for this missing comma.

>He is good for nothing but rubberstamping Elia's ukases and waddling around asking board typists to send a letter from him on board stationary asking Mayor Iorio to abate his condo water bill.<

Try "e for envelope, a for at a standstill". It might help you remember. It works for my eight-year-old.

>The board has a month from the day of filing to respond, so this production is due soon to be found on this site if I can lay hold of it.<

Here, so means therefore. Vinegartits refuses to punctuate this one correctly despite Strunk & White's advice.

>What am I reading? The Leatherstocking tales, of course: I missed Fenimore Cooper when I was young; so I am reading him when I am old and in love with Natty Bumpo aka Hawkeye, Deerslayer, or Leatherstockings.<

Hang on! She's got it! Elsewhere she reckons I am making up grammar rules on this one. Maybe it's a typo, but if she has seen the error of her ways, then she is welcome for my help.

>He's even more attractive because he rejects all liasons with women--his bride, he avows, being the forest.<

Possessive before gerund, Vinegartits. Or has she finally worked out that they are participles?

Fix your own mistakes first.

http://grammargrinch.blogspot.com/2008/04/is-civility-of-whom-dead.html

Vinegartits writes this:

Parallelism: use "that...that" or use nothing. Don't use one that to begin a noun clause an omit before the other noun clause.

Maybe she's learned something from my post two before this one of March 25!