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You say "I saw some EE student C code once" is grammatical? How about "I saw some American woman English speak once"? ;-) I wonder who is "lot competent" her

You say "I saw some EE student C code once" is grammatical? How about "I saw some American woman English speak once"? ;-) I wonder who is "lot competent" here! Look, it is all right to make minor mistakes in grammar, especially if you are not a native speaker (the "lot comment" guy seemed Indian). I was just pointing out your hypocrisy in using that as a marker of competence and ask for editing, when you write more ill structured sentences yourself. He who would be a Grammar Nazi should first write grammatically correct sentences. Relax and let live.

stcredzero 17y ago
You say "I saw some EE student C code once" is grammatical? How about "I saw some American woman English speak once"? ;-) I wonder who is "lot competent" here! Your example is wrong because "code" in my sentence is a noun, not a verb as you assumed. Is English your 1st language? Thanks for showing us more "lot competent." Hint, if you're wrong, but mistakenly try to come back and tell me I'm wrong, I'm going to let you have it with both barrels.
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "Your example is wrong because "code" in my sentence is a noun, not a verb as you assumed." It doesn't matter. You can still make unparseable sentences using code as a noun. "I saw some EE student C code" (where code is used as a noun) is just as wrong as " I saw some kids Basketball play" (where play is a noun). You need something more to craft an unambigous sentence. "I saw someone noun-used-as-adjective+noun" is wrong anyway. To use your logic "I saw someone C code" == "I saw someone English speech". (speech is a noun) "Hint, if you're wrong, but mistakenly try to come back and tell me I'm wrong, I'm going to let you have it with both barrels." I am terrified ;-). "Is English your 1st language? " no, but is it yours? ;-)
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    Wow you really are a prolific unconscious irony generator! (Left as exercise to the student.)
- ErrantX 17y ago
  You are wrong, as it happens - if not strictly (though I am not sure it is strictly correct) then in usual use. EDIT: if you're using it as a noun, by the way, you are wrong - I think student needs to be possessive. e.g. "I saw some EE students C code once" But that's immaterial - why are we attacking people's grammar. It's irrelevant to the discussion!
  - plinkplonk 17y ago
    "if your'e using it as a noun, by the way, you are wrong - I think student needs to be possessive." Exactly. And you need an apostrophe to indicate that if you want your readers to parse the sentence properly. "I saw an EE student's C Code once" (student is singular) or " I saw some EE students' C code once" (students are plural). I've seen some grammar books recommend an extra s anyway for the latter case as in "I saw some students's C code once" though I suspect that is unused these days. [1] "why are we attacking people's grammar. It's irrelevant to the discussion!" This. Speaking or writing 100% grammatically correct English (assuming such a beast exists, which is a separate discussion) or making a typo here and there is irrelevant to someone's competence as a programmer. Using minor grammatical errors to judge people as incompetent is, at the least, foolish. I don't think strcredzero is incompetent because he missed an apostrophe or wrote an ill formed sentence. But by the same token I don't think Aditya is incompetent as a programmer (which was the topic under discussion btw - EE students being good programmers or not) just because he said "lot competent". Give the guy a break. [1] From Strunk's "Elements of Style" "Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press."
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      Who ever said anyone was a bad programmer? This is the same irony as the "qualaty" initiative from Dilbert. At that point it was an ironic and relevant quip. It's you guys that turned it into ego bashing -- while displaying grammatical incompetence even as you incorrectly criticize my grammar. Incidentally you're still wrong. Ambiguously parse-able English sentences are still grammatically correct if one of the possibilities is correct. Oh, and you assumed student was a noun when it's an adjective in your analysis. Sheesh! Is English your 1st language? "Student code" where student is a noun acting as adjective is a commonly accepted pattern of use in North America and Britain.

stcredzero 17y ago

You say "I saw some EE student C code once" is grammatical? How about "I saw some American woman English speak once"? ;-) I wonder who is "lot competent" here! Your example is wrong because "code" in my sentence is a noun, not a verb as you assumed. Is English your 1st language? Thanks for showing us more "lot competent." Hint, if you're wrong, but mistakenly try to come back and tell me I'm wrong, I'm going to let you have it with both barrels.

plinkplonk 17y ago
"Your example is wrong because "code" in my sentence is a noun, not a verb as you assumed." It doesn't matter. You can still make unparseable sentences using code as a noun. "I saw some EE student C code" (where code is used as a noun) is just as wrong as " I saw some kids Basketball play" (where play is a noun). You need something more to craft an unambigous sentence. "I saw someone noun-used-as-adjective+noun" is wrong anyway. To use your logic "I saw someone C code" == "I saw someone English speech". (speech is a noun) "Hint, if you're wrong, but mistakenly try to come back and tell me I'm wrong, I'm going to let you have it with both barrels." I am terrified ;-). "Is English your 1st language? " no, but is it yours? ;-)
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Wow you really are a prolific unconscious irony generator! (Left as exercise to the student.)
ErrantX 17y ago
You are wrong, as it happens - if not strictly (though I am not sure it is strictly correct) then in usual use. EDIT: if you're using it as a noun, by the way, you are wrong - I think student needs to be possessive. e.g. "I saw some EE students C code once" But that's immaterial - why are we attacking people's grammar. It's irrelevant to the discussion!
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  "if your'e using it as a noun, by the way, you are wrong - I think student needs to be possessive." Exactly. And you need an apostrophe to indicate that if you want your readers to parse the sentence properly. "I saw an EE student's C Code once" (student is singular) or " I saw some EE students' C code once" (students are plural). I've seen some grammar books recommend an extra s anyway for the latter case as in "I saw some students's C code once" though I suspect that is unused these days. [1] "why are we attacking people's grammar. It's irrelevant to the discussion!" This. Speaking or writing 100% grammatically correct English (assuming such a beast exists, which is a separate discussion) or making a typo here and there is irrelevant to someone's competence as a programmer. Using minor grammatical errors to judge people as incompetent is, at the least, foolish. I don't think strcredzero is incompetent because he missed an apostrophe or wrote an ill formed sentence. But by the same token I don't think Aditya is incompetent as a programmer (which was the topic under discussion btw - EE students being good programmers or not) just because he said "lot competent". Give the guy a break. [1] From Strunk's "Elements of Style" "Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press."
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    Who ever said anyone was a bad programmer? This is the same irony as the "qualaty" initiative from Dilbert. At that point it was an ironic and relevant quip. It's you guys that turned it into ego bashing -- while displaying grammatical incompetence even as you incorrectly criticize my grammar. Incidentally you're still wrong. Ambiguously parse-able English sentences are still grammatically correct if one of the possibilities is correct. Oh, and you assumed student was a noun when it's an adjective in your analysis. Sheesh! Is English your 1st language? "Student code" where student is a noun acting as adjective is a commonly accepted pattern of use in North America and Britain.