It’s such a sad indictment of our modern, and by modern I mean say roughly in the last hundred and fifty years, education system which, unlike that experienced by great stylists such as John Ruskin, Lytton Strachey and Charles Kingsley, and even Cardinal Newman although he ever so slightly dirtied his copybook by going over to Rome, was the norm and produced writers with flair who knew how to write both with a flourish and with something to say, and I am including Charles Dickens in that list although he was something of a popularist in reality, rather like William Makepeace Thackeray possibly, to say nothing of the women who wrote, such as Elizabeth Gaskell, the Brontes, and George Eliot, although being women they wrote with style but very little depth of thought, has produced few who can compose with skill and in a manner that highlights beautifully the intricacies of the English language not in simple subject-verb-object sentences but writing that is both complex and striking, for unfortunately the contemporary reader appears to have the inability not to comprehend anything longer than three words in a sentence and that neither hand-writen nor corectly speled.
Oh, you were doing so well there, chattering on without taking a breath, and then your old stutter came back.
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Wwwwwwwwwwwwhat? 😀
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That indeed is the epidemic plaguing the recent batches of humanity, especially after the onset of social media. I enjoyed the craft and style employed to score the point.
PS: I guess I am one of the ancients who can still follow a line of thought rolling over and over.
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I too am an ancient! Although I do not like it too much when I have to put a finger on the verb in a sentence while reading the next four pages!
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Tip: It’s best to read those backwards.
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Very clever, Bruce. Sounds very much like a 19th century treatiise on authorship.
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Thank you, Chris. I wrote it after reading “Westward Ho!”
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Phew! I got out of breath reading that. Thank heaven for slep and grammer check, eh? Caught your comment over on Derrick Knight’s site – here’s a bit about Silbury Hill, if you’re interested http://bitaboutbritain.com/enigma-silbury-hill/ 🙂
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Thanks very much for the comment and the link!
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Eye blaim James Joyce
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!!!! Did you know that James Joyce had a sister (a nun – Sister Gertrude) who lived down the road from me in Christchurch NZ. Joyce wrote to her every week of his adult life – and when she died they burnt all the letters. However, it explains why the words of a Maori haka are perfectly quoted in one of his novels.
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I certainly didn’t know that. Thanks, Bruce
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Excellent sentence, Bruce. I was given the challenge to write a one sentence paragraph at a writer’s conference, and I didn’t do so well as you.
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Thanks so much, Noelle. A greatly appreciated compliment!
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Hmmm–very little depth of thought, eh?
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You seem to be the only one who noticed! Perhaps you’re the only one that can read a long sentences easily!!
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