3 ms·
To join in the pedantry, I think that the better phrasing would be "to second guess as you write." The sentence uses "as" as a conjunction, and the former phra
by Majromax 4y ago
To join in the pedantry, I think that the better phrasing would be "to second guess as you write."
The sentence uses "as" as a conjunction, and the former phrase is "it short circuits [...]". That phrase uses the simple present tense, so I think the default parallelism is to continue the tense into the subordinate clause.
In particular, I think that the use of the present progressive in "as you're writing" makes the sentence more imminent, as if it's referring to a specific instance, e.g. "The dinner bell interrupts me as I'm writing this sentence." That's less consistent with "the tendency to," which to me speaks in a more abstract way.
- anonymouskimmer 4y agoI think bringing it into the first person, by removing the pronoun, is best: "to second guess while writing". I also think changing "to short circuit" to "of short circuiting" reads better, though if that change is made, additionally dropping "sort of" reads best. "The unprofessional look of it can have the same effect of short circuiting the tendency to second guess while writing." I can't comment on your grammatical critique. The technical aspects of grammar are taxing to me beyond the 'intuitive' level.