Uh-oh

[kaasirpent]

So, I'm here at work, waiting for the nightly job to finish so I can copy a bunch of data to another database, and since I had a few extra minutes, I thought I'd use it sorta constructively by--

That was horrendous.

What was?

That...atrocious sentence. You started it with 'So', and that is a useless word in this case. You could leave it off without affecting the meaning of what you're attempting to say.

*sigh* Well, you've done it, now, folks. Meet Jürgen, my inner Grammar Nazi. Stress on 'inner.'

Grüße. Ich freue mich, dich zu treffen.

Jürgen, you can drop the whole "German" schtick. Everyone knows by now that I don't actually speak German, which means you don't either. Besides, Google Translate probably butchered it.

Whatever you say. Do you want to know what else was wrong with your opening sentence?

Not particularly, no. This is informal.

That never stopped you.

*sigh*

Oh, yeah. This is going to be great. Just exactly what I needed: another voice in my head.

It is definitely a run-on sentence, and should be divided at the first "and." I don't even want to think about 'sorta.' You should edit these entries before posting them. I could help, you know. Hey! Where are you-- What are you doing with my Elements of Style?

*thwack*

Comments

*My* inner German

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Familiar:

'Hi! It's nice to meet you!' =
'Tag! Ich freue mich, dich kennenzulernen!'

'kennenlernen' is literally 'to get to know someone', but in this case, it's understood as 'to meet someone for the first time'. You'd only use 'dich' if you were a grammar school or university student and you're talking to someone who's your age. If you've talking to someone older than you, or you're not sure, use the formal 'Sie'.

You can also use 'Hallo', which is said more often, instead of 'Tag'. If you live in southern Germany or in Austria, you can 'Gruess Gott'(which, on second thought, is kind of formal). If you live in Switzerland, you can say 'Gruetzi'.

Formal (High German):

'Guten Tag! Ich freue mich, Sie kennenzulernen!'

This concludes the lesson for the day.

*shivers in her boots*

[brightspot.livejournal.com]

So...Jürgen is sooooooooo not allowed to read my journal, or any of my comments. Ever, ever, ever.

*runs to hide*

[craftsman.livejournal.com]

Thank you for volunteering to do a grammar/style review of my technical book, if I ever get the damn thing written.