This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Faulkner was a master of the run-on sentence. Absalom, Absalom starts with one of the longest sentences I can recall:
From a little after two o’clock until almost sundown of the long still hot weary dead September afternoon they sat in which Miss Coldfield still called the office because her father had called it that— a dim hot airless room with the blinds all closed and fastened for forty-three summers because when she was a girl someone had believed that light and moving air carried heat and that dark was always cooler, and which (as the sun shone fuller and fuller on that side of the house) became latticed with yellow slashes full of dust motes which Quentin thought of as being flecks of the dead old dried paint itself blown inward from the scaling blinds as wind might have blown them.
Off topic, may I suggest one of my favorite books, one that was consistently overlooked because it was censored back in the day and that is Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.
He was SO maligned as an author because of that misconception. But when you read his stuff, it’s exuberant, intelligent, passionate and joyful, honest, truthful, authentic, wonderful, clear, precise writing. As an ex-pat, he writes about the worst conditions imaginable, working as a starving writer living in the underbelly of Paris, visiting whores, consorting with scoundrels. etc…but recounts it all with the greatest joy!!! He never thought of himself as anything special or ever expected his books to be published. He also beautifully chronicles his famous affair with Anais Nin (who was also a fantastic writer). Yes…his books got banned because he used the word “c**t” here and there or talks about sex and our repressed society at the time couldn’t handle it… the books were labeled pornographic and banned, but in actuality by today’s standards they are quite tame… I think so many people missed his fantastic work because they had or still have that preconceived prejudice… that it was smut or something…
As Henry Miller himself says: “Everybody says sex is obscene. The only true obscenity is war.”
Tropic of Cancer is one of my favorite books EVER!!! Great literature, some of the best ever written. “Henry & June” is the companion piece written by his lover Anais Nin. It’s ALL great reading!!!
(Can you tell I was an English major in college!??)
Exactly and nicely put! As hosts, we are always keen to complain about the time we spend answering guests questions or repeating things that are already stated or dealing with badly worded messages. It’s the same thing when a guest gets a flakey host who can’t be bothered to update their listing or to take the time to reply properly. I would never book with a host (super or not) who behaved as if they were doing me a favour by allowing me to PAY them to stay at their place. There is no need to bend over backwards for guests or to be servile but behaving as if guests are privileged to stay with you and communicating in such an off-hand manner… bye bye,
“Let me just comment on starting a sentence with And or But. This is perfectly acceptable.” …We aim to make copy sound conversational and colloquial. And starting a sentence with And is one way to do that."
The conjunction thing comes from some dark corner of a faraway 6th grade English teacher’s mind. I’ve been battling it in one form or another my entire professional life.
Along with the sentence fragment thing.
And the ending-a-sentence-with-a-preposition thing. Going to extraordinary and ludicrous lengths to avoid doing so.
All because of Miss Walton, 6th Grade English teacher… (yes, academic writing is more formal. We don’t partake in academic writing in our day-to-day lives.)
I had a laugh at your “ending a sentence with a preposition” comment because I often briefly suffer from the angst of doing so and going against what I was taught. I know it’s not proper and yet there are times it is what fits best.
And while I know there are those who instantly spot and condemn usage of starting a sentence with “and” or “but”, I am more at ease in doing so when it best fits the flow of thought.
Some rules ARE involuable though… such as using the subjective tense correctly. (“SandyToes and I agreed on a forum post”… or conversely, “it made sense to Sandy and me.”)
This is why, when I first trained as a copy editor, I was advised by my editor at the time to MEMORIZE The AP Style book, and I did.
Any professional writer worth their salt needs to memorize it.
I could never pass a test on the rules of correct grammar but I can fake it because I basically know proper usage just from paying attention.
(“The rain in Spain…” call me Eliza.)
My sisters became teachers but I was the black sheep and dropped out of college early in the game (to focus on the more interesting opposite sex) so I don’t have all that proper learnin’. My loss.
But [< oooh, there’s that “but”!] somehow, at the age of 18, I went from being an entry level clerk typist in a law book publishing company to becoming Assistant Editor within two years.
I fully agree with @konacoconutz! Ignorance of the uses of language, particularly written language, is inexcusable for a native speaker. There are style guides which can indeed be memorized, if not referred to – AP or Chicago or at the very least Strunk & White On The Elements Of Style.
I find the writing of non-native speakers is either very poor because they apply the rules of grammar of their native language to the construction of English sentences; or, it is much better than that of most native English speakers because they are working making their English writing as perfect as possible.
What are you on about? Whittles?? Don’t YOU have anything better to do than post unhelpful unfriendly nonsense?
Ooh, just thought - maybe you are actually the host that replied so badly to the OP!
Yep, that’s what it is in the South. I recall seeing some ol’ coot sitting on the porch at the corner store whittling wood for whistles. (Try saying that 3 times!) I would pass him as I went in to get a huge pickle out of the barrel and a bottle of Kick-a-poo Joy Juice.
I’ve never had a problem understanding your slightly-fractured English, Yana. In fact, I always enjoy reading your posts because your worldly wisdom comes through along with (often unintended) humor.
