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Bill Calton is an Outstanding Writer

Posted By: Paul Weaver
Date: Saturday, 31 July 2010, at 4:31 p.m.

In Response To: Bill Calton is an Outstanding Writer (neilkaz)

NeilKaz wrote, "Bill, as for whether Paul is complimenting or insulting you, I cannot say anything other than to me is sometimes is unclear what some of Paul's statements or titles to his posts mean here so it is possible to assume the wrong things."

What did I mean?

I am not going to mention any names, but many people who post here on bgonline could use an 8th grade refresher course in English. Many people post sentences that have grammatical errors and/or are poorly written. Most adults in the USA, even college graduates, are poor writers. I pay attention to this matter because I wrote a book.

Those who speak English as a foreign language are excused because I know how difficult it is to learn another language. Those whose native language is English are also excused because this is a backgammon forum and not an English grammar seminar.

Bill Calton's sentences are well constructed and I found only one minor problem in his long post that may actually be no problem at all. My high school English teacher told me it was wrong to use the word "why" as a relative pronoun, but I frequently see this usage of "why" in the New York Times.

I meant what I said when I wrote that I have never seen anyone on bgonline write this well. I appreciate and respect people who write well. Incidentally, my sixth-grade neice at a private school in New York writes much better than vast majority of all college graduates.

I think Bill knew what I meant because I sent him this e-mail:

"Hello Bill,

"You are an outstanding writer. What was your major in college? English?

"I found only one minor mistake. "In fact, chess is almost ideally suited for the Web, which is one reason why chess sites and online activity have boomed." In my opinion, you should have used "that" instead of "why" as a relative pronoun.

"Your post was the best written I have ever seen on bgonline. How did you learn how to write so well?

"Best wishes,

Paul"

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