Comments on: New MacBook Pro to be built with Liquidmetal: Pro and Air to be combined http://nvonews.com/2012/04/26/new-macbook-pro-to-be-built-with-liquidmetal-pro-and-air-to-be-combined/ Striving For An Informed World Sun, 19 May 2013 07:43:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Paul http://nvonews.com/2012/04/26/new-macbook-pro-to-be-built-with-liquidmetal-pro-and-air-to-be-combined/#comment-526226 Paul Wed, 02 May 2012 01:08:34 +0000 http://nvonews.com/?p=34371#comment-526226 @Ken As an English teacher you would assume that I would side with your argument. However, English is an ever evolving language. More and more words are being changed and the use of hyphens etc are being altered. Many publication companies chose to drop hyphens. There is also the apostrophe war that has been going on for years - and it has even gone under questioning as to whether it should still be taught in school. Your argument on the use of (or lack of) the hyphen becomes invalid because in the context of the sentence structure it makes sense. If you had to do a double take then you are no longer reading the article for interest but instead in a more critical way, purposely looking for errors. I will agree that the 'major' does not make sense in this context. If you wanted to be more critical there is also the issue of lack of commas. However, this is an article about Macbook air/pro - the information given makes sense. Had this been a submission for an English assignment, then this person would have to re-write their submission! So, to summarise, stop being so over critical on the grammar etc and read it for what it is! @Ken
As an English teacher you would assume that I would side with your argument. However, English is an ever evolving language. More and more words are being changed and the use of hyphens etc are being altered.
Many publication companies chose to drop hyphens. There is also the apostrophe war that has been going on for years – and it has even gone under questioning as to whether it should still be taught in school.

Your argument on the use of (or lack of) the hyphen becomes invalid because in the context of the sentence structure it makes sense. If you had to do a double take then you are no longer reading the article for interest but instead in a more critical way, purposely looking for errors.

I will agree that the ‘major’ does not make sense in this context.

If you wanted to be more critical there is also the issue of lack of commas.

However, this is an article about Macbook air/pro – the information given makes sense. Had this been a submission for an English assignment, then this person would have to re-write their submission!

So, to summarise, stop being so over critical on the grammar etc and read it for what it is!

]]> By: tim http://nvonews.com/2012/04/26/new-macbook-pro-to-be-built-with-liquidmetal-pro-and-air-to-be-combined/#comment-526078 tim Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:12:00 +0000 http://nvonews.com/?p=34371#comment-526078 Ken, just stop. Ken,

just stop.

]]> By: Ken http://nvonews.com/2012/04/26/new-macbook-pro-to-be-built-with-liquidmetal-pro-and-air-to-be-combined/#comment-525615 Ken Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:38:16 +0000 http://nvonews.com/?p=34371#comment-525615 Failure to use hyphens properly: <em>Cupertino based technology major Apple</em> would have been a lot clearer (and it would have been correct) if you had written <em>Cupertino-based technology major Apple</em>. That's what hyphens are for. It's wise to obey the rules for hyphens so the reader doesn't have to scan the sentence twice to understand it. Punctuation can make a big difference: <em>a high-level platform</em> is a programming language, while a <em>high, level platform</em> is a treehouse. Bad word choice: In this context, "major" is not a noun. Maytag is not a "washing-machine major," and Volkswagen is not an "automobile major." Sam Smith, on the other hand, could be an English major. Your sentence would have been clearer if you had used an appropriate noun, such as <em>leader</em> or <em>heavyweight</em> or <em>giant</em> or something like that. Failure to use hyphens properly:

Cupertino based technology major Apple would have been a lot clearer (and it would have been correct) if you had written Cupertino-based technology major Apple. That’s what hyphens are for.

It’s wise to obey the rules for hyphens so the reader doesn’t have to scan the sentence twice to understand it. Punctuation can make a big difference: a high-level platform is a programming language, while a high, level platform is a treehouse.

Bad word choice:

In this context, “major” is not a noun. Maytag is not a “washing-machine major,” and Volkswagen is not an “automobile major.” Sam Smith, on the other hand, could be an English major. Your sentence would have been clearer if you had used an appropriate noun, such as leader or heavyweight or giant or something like that.

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