Stockcar Racing School

Autocross, Road Racing, Rallycross, Rally...
Rope-Pusher
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by Rope-Pusher »

gizmo wrote:I had a professor once that swore the phrase, "...but the queen was better than her," was grammatically incorrect. (It should technically read, according to prescriptivist language, "...but the queen was better than she."

I hadn't the guts to challenge him, but I would argue, albeit with little credible base, that the former phrase was indeed correct, but I couldn't find the name of the rule to justify my claim. The rule is, from what I recall, that the object may be used to signify the omission of the verb (is). But again, the name to that rule, should it exist, still eludes me.

As far as my own grammar goes, besides being too lazy to correct obvious mistakes that detract nothing from the point, I don't see anything overtly wrong with what I've written. Should that speak to your cause then I'd much rather welcome direct observations/references/corrections than the seemingly codified mimicry.

As far as the rest of the forum's posts goes, I've come to accept most of them as the currently accepted vernacular. For example: I had to answer the phone at my job recently. I rarely receive phone calls. To determine information about the caller, I asked, "with whom am I speaking," and the caller, extremely befuddled, grunted, "huh?!??." To again determine information about the caller, without adding any futher confusion, I asked again, with a slight tone of defeat, "who am I speaking to," and immediately received the information I initially sought. I still argue that the only person at fault on that conversation was I.

I'm also a big fan of ensuring an object follows a preposition. But sometimes, especially during impromptu speech, I find adherence to that rule using techniques like "on which, in which, etc" come across as grammatical tourniquets; instead the sentence should have been better structured from the onset, which is often difficult during impromptu speech, or the sentence should just flow more naturally, ending with the preposition one so desperately tries to avoid.

I'm not going to proofread this post, I spent far more time typing it than it deserves. It is extremely likely an innocuous thought I'd just as soon retract but I'll post it for now.

ADDENDUM: often i presume anything that leaves an opening for a joke you exploit, however suspect the exploit.
...but the Queen was better than her.....her what? "Her" implies possession, while "she" doesn't. Could a King possibly be better than his? I think snot!

Don't worry about your own grammar. I'f she don't talk right by now, ya ain't gonna change her. Just remember her birthday and visit with her from time to time. Wear that sweater she gave you, so she thinks you like it.
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IMBoring25
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by IMBoring25 »

Note Rule 5.

It is incredibly common to get that phrase wrong. That doesn't make the wrong usage right.

And "her" isn't always possessive. It is also the third-person feminine object pronoun. For instance, "I was talking to her," in which case it is the object of the preposition.
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gizmo
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

I know that, "the queen is better than she," is correct. It is easily said more clearly, "the queen is better than she is". But I believe the other is also correct for this reason:

there is supposed to be a rule something akin to this: when omitting the verb of a sentence, so that the sentence itself would be incomplete, one can use the objective pronoun (or reflexive pronoun) in place of what should've been a verb and subjective pronoun and that substitution implies both the verb and its subjective pronoun. ...I swear I read that rule somewhere, otherwise I never would've adopted the phrase, "how about yourself."
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

Rope-Pusher wrote:...but the Queen was better than her.....her what? "Her" implies possession, while "she" doesn't. Could a King possibly be better than his? I think snot!
gizmo wrote:...from what I recall, the object may be used to signify the omission of the verb (The queen is better than she is -- > the queen is better than her).
again, i wasn't debating whether the professor was correct, just whether he incorrectly claimed the original sentence incorrect. i think that point somehow got lost.
Rope-Pusher wrote:Don't worry about your own grammar. I'f she don't talk right by now, ya ain't gonna change her. Just remember her birthday and visit with her from time to time. Wear that sweater she gave you, so she thinks you like it.
exactly the way pronouns should be used.

i really wish i could find the grammatical name to the rule to initially posed this thought; without it my argument is virtually baseless. i can only cling to the "how about yourself" phrase as having a correct grammatical structure for the same reason.
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

i've looked everywhere for that rule and i will not waste anymore time trying to find it. hopefully one of you two will be able to confirm its legitimacy, or i shall be forced to abandon it.

(for what it's worth: i have been using the prescriptivist version of the rule for many years, unless my present company would consider it awkward, confusing, or pedantic).
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by IMBoring25 »

I'm not sold on that, sorry. The third example in the discussion of Rule 5 even provides a case where the meaning of the sentence changes depending on whether you choose a subject pronoun or an object pronoun.
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gizmo
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

IMBoring25 wrote:I'm not sold on that, sorry. The third example in the discussion of Rule 5 even provides a case where the meaning of the sentence changes depending on whether you choose a subject pronoun or an object pronoun.
nor should you be; that's why i never approached the professor. i had this program from merriam webster and i got the rule in question from it, but that program doesn't work on my newer operating system (otherwise i'd just search for "yourself" or "myself" and find the rule instantly" (funny how the software has features info that the web version does not)).

also, the example i'm using, "better than", is a poor example to illustrate my point. i think the technique (rule) i'm trying to express is the one i've been applying to "how about yourself" -- there's no verb in that sentence, but it's my understanding that because the reflexive pronoun was used than the sentence is gramatically correct.
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by theholycow »

Thread necromancy: I HAVE THE POWER!

So you never did tell us how it went. How did it go?

I gotta scrape up some money that I can spend on tickets to Thompson Speedway. It's right near me.
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gizmo
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

it's a long story. they mostly just give you the car and let you run at your own risk. the car has maybe 400hp, maybe less. certainly not the 600 advertised. on a 5/8mi track, it's fast enough to keep you entertained, but on nhms the motor is out of juice not long after you leave the apex of 2 and 4. they probably had my limiter well below its max too. i was really worried about running nhms because of the difficulty involved in slowing and getting the car through the turns quickly, but because the max speed was capped at apex speed, there isn't much to say.

i think the one thing about nhms that i noticed was that you can't see the outside wall coming out of 2. so you do have to play it conservative at first and slowly work toward tracking all the way out to the wall. iv lines are tough in racing. but as long as you use the stagger to your advantage. keep the weight stored where you need it. don't unload the energy stored in the springs abnormally. and don't forget that you have power assist nothing. you can get around there decently fast. i think most of the petty schools scoot around between 40s-42s. i was scooting around at 33s-35s. (they raised my limiter after my first session, though not by much).

but i wasn't going there to try out for a sponsorship like cole trickle. just wanted the chance to drive on a few tracks my dad had raced in a decent car. so that was mission accomplished.
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gizmo
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by gizmo »

i actually go racing with ra64t. we do a lot of sim racing. and we've met up a few times for karting. (in fact, ra64t actually invited me to be on his team once, even though he was faster that day).

so if you wanna talk (since typing takes forever). i'm sure either of us would be happy to break down the fundamentals of stock car driving. he knows about all i know and executes it equally as well, arguably better.
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Re: Stockcar Racing School

Post by theholycow »

PM'd.

What kind of sim racing software do you use?
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