A english language style quiz. Give it a go. I failed miserably. I should've RTFM. [via a reddit story]
Before the style guide, Orwell's essay on english writing would be a good refresher.
Since you've come this far, you might as well let Strunk give you a good beating.
More like this
I was off-line for several days, because the modem toasted
itself.
I didn't do it, honest! It had been acting up for a couple of
weeks, causing random "web site not found" errors. If it happened
I know blogs are supposed to be all about up to the second news and gossip. but sometimes I just don't get through my reading list in a very timely manner, what can I say?
So I get a lot of "sceptical" comments on the "How to Talk to a Sceptic" guide, as one might well imagine. They cover quite a range from subtly misguided to poorly informed to angry political rants. I always try to answer if it seems like there might be a point.
I guess I put my foot in it when I wrote that Genome Technology article on DIY Bio.
I got 8 out of 12, which is still pretty lousy. I think it's not bad for an American.
10 of 12.
Nine out of twelve, and I'm an English professor. Please don't tell my chair.
11 out of 12 and I disagree with the one they said I got wrong. Of course, I really disagree with a number of their dicta, for instance, that passive is always worse than active. Information Structuring plays a large role in these things: in their sentence which was Topic: UN observers or paramilitaries? Too many sentences with bad information flow is harder to understand than too many passives. (That's not the one I got wrong, that was the one where I used Zeitgeist. I don't care if it's foreign, it's not a synonym for "spirit". Pfft.)
PS - Strunk is okay, White is a crank. He didn't help you pass this, did he? Use something else. Anything else, almost.