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What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 10:06 am
by oursilverstrands
Jan, I just read that a noun should always follow the word, "This." If so, I've violated that rule, often...as in, "This seems very strange to me," or "This can't be true."

Puzzled,

Lillian

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 12:25 pm
by glorybee
I've never heard that rule. Can you give me a link? Or if it's not an online thing, can you give me more context? It's seems preposterous to me.

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 12:41 pm
by oursilverstrands
http://www.sbts.edu/.../Common_Errors...‎Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

I couldn't remember if "Scripture" was always capitalized, so I Google it and came up with the above.

Lillian

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 12:51 pm
by glorybee
Lillian, your link takes me to a "Page not found." Maybe if you could copy and paste the relevant section?

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:26 pm
by oursilverstrands
Jan, when I Googled, I had to open a pdf. file, so maybe that's why you couldn't open it. These rules were for students who were writing doctoral papers. Could that make a difference?

Common Writing Errors of D.Min. Students

Below you will see multiple errors that we commonly see in written work. If you are a new student, please note these errors when they occur in your papers and work to correct them in future submissions. If you are a returning student, you will probably recognize that we have raised the bar when grading papers with these errors. These errors are unacceptable in doctoral writing and especially within the final written project; thus, we want you to learn to correct them now.

14. Using a “naked this”; e.g., “This is a good idea” should read, “This idea is a good one.”
Always follow “this” with a noun.


By the way, is Scripture always capitalized? :D

Lillian

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:45 pm
by glorybee
lish1936 wrote:Jan, when I Googled, I had to open a pdf. file, so maybe that's why you couldn't open it. These rules were for students who were writing doctoral papers. Could that make a difference?

Common Writing Errors of D.Min. Students

Below you will see multiple errors that we commonly see in written work. If you are a new student, please note these errors when they occur in your papers and work to correct them in future submissions. If you are a returning student, you will probably recognize that we have raised the bar when grading papers with these errors. These errors are unacceptable in doctoral writing and especially within the final written project; thus, we want you to learn to correct them now.

14. Using a “naked this”; e.g., “This is a good idea” should read, “This idea is a good one.”
Always follow “this” with a noun.


By the way, is Scripture always capitalized? :D

Lillian
Ahhhh. The light dawneth.

This is for very formal writing, for a doctoral thesis, and is perhaps just this particular professor's preference (or that of his department). In everyday speech and writing, it's perfectly proper to follow "This" with "is" or "was" or any number of non-noun words.

As for "Scripture" being capitalized, that's a bit of a gray area. If you're writing for a Christian publication or institution, you'll definitely want to check with their usage guidelines. Generally, when it's "Scriptures" as a synonym for "Bible," it's capitalized. Even singular, when it conveys the same meaning as "Bible," it would be capitalized.

I love to talk about Scripture with my friends.

However, when it has a more general meaning, it would be in lower case:

Many faiths have scriptures that contain the writings of their founders. OR
The cooking tips of Julia Child were like scripture to the cooking students.

By the way--one of the most common errors in the Writing Challenge is writing "Bible" in lower case. It is always upper case, except in sentences like this one:

The French Chef was the cooking students' bible.

However, the adjective "biblical" is not capitalized.

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:17 pm
by swfdoc1
Jan, you're right, of courses, that it is often OK to follow "this" with “is.” But I think what the students are being warned against—in a VERY poor manner—is something that ALL writers should avoid: broad pronoun reference. But that problem extends beyond the word “this” and often must be solved in ways other than adding a noun. See, e.g., here. The examples given are not necessarily the best ones, since sometimes much more confusion can arise than in these examples. But the page was an easy one to find. Off the top of my head, I can think of this being a problem with the personal pronoun “it,” the demonstrative pronouns (esp. the single ones, “this” and “that”), and some of the relative pronouns (such as “that” and “which”).

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:24 pm
by glorybee
Thanks, Steve! I was hoping you'd weigh in on this one.

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:29 pm
by swfdoc1
Always lurking; not always participating! :mrgreen:

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 2:49 pm
by oursilverstrands
:thankssign to you, Jan, and Steve. I don't know why, but I find myself second guessing my punctuation when I reply to you guys. No, I take that back; I do know why :D

  • I'm practicing my usage of a semicolon. I know I could have written it another way, but did I get it right?



Lillian

Re: What should follow, "This?"

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:00 pm
by glorybee
lish1936 wrote::thankssign to you, Jan, and Steve. I don't know why, but I find myself second guessing my punctuation when I reply to you guys. No, I take that back; I do know why :D

  • I'm practicing my usage of a semicolon. I know I could have written it another way, but did I get it right?



Lillian
Yes.