Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 04, 2002 at 16:41:34:
A graduate degree in literature doesn’t automatically make you correct. I come from a family of writers, english teachers and editors and have worked as a professional writer and editor myself.
The time and point of view of the sentence are the distant past and the memory of something in the life of an eighth grader who has long since grown.
The book was an object encountered then, which has since gone far from reach. It’s perfectly correct and more appropriate to the sense of the narrative to refer to everything about the book in the past tense. “It had a red cover,” “It used a silly kind of word game to encourage children to look for new words,” etc.
It would be strange to say, “When I was in the eighth grade, I read a book that has a red cover and uses word games to encourage … .” That superimposes two simultaneous points of view, and they clash. “Read” in the past tense is from the point of view of the child who existed long ago. “Has” and “uses” impose the point of view of the writer in the present time on top of the narrative time of the eighth grader. It suggests that I somehow have retained the book or have kept track of where it is, which is the opposite of what I mean. The book is a distant memory from long ago, and I chose my words to evoke that sense. Using present tense may not be strictly incorrect, but keeping the whole narrative in the past tense is still correct and does read better. In an instance like this, the writer generally is allowed to make the judgment.
On the other hand, I must say that it’s refreshing to discover there are still a few people in the world who care enough about the English language to debate its proper use.
perverse park manager incentives? - Posted by James Buster
Posted by James Buster on July 03, 2002 at 06:39:25:
Consider the MH investor, who in order to secure business in local parks guarantees park rent on homes while searching for a buyer. What incentive does the manager have to actually approve those buyers? The investor has offered a great deal: guaranteed income without the hassle of an actual tenant. If the MH is in any area where lot demand exceeds supply (lot supply: what an oxymoron in CA), a threat to remove the mobile is worthless. Am I being too paranoid here?
… watching you. You are just starting to think ahead and to beginning to foresee things that could go wrong with your wallet. Good. This points up all the more, the critical importance of having good relationships with park managers.
Generally you would make the guarantee of space rent IN EXCHANGE FOR an agreement that you would not have any problem getting buyers accepted because since you would be agreeing to pay space rent for the duration of your note. There shouldn’t be any great import placed on the creditworthiness of your buyers. Once the mobiles are paid for, then the mobile owners have a lot to lose by not paying because the PM could get a lien on the mobiles for payment of back space rent. Since the PM probably couldn’t loose anything if he acted promptly with a lien sale it shouldn’t be any problem for him if your buyer doesn’t have perfect credit. Your buyer has two-three years to establish a good payhment record before your note is paid in full. If he can’t do so it is his problem. Hand holding time is over.
In some hot California markets you may find it more difficult to deal with PMs as you have stated. This is why being sure that a refersl fee crosses the palms of the PM. It would then be in his own sefl-interest to work with you, wouldn’t it?
I dont know how “other” parks work but, we require a $200.00 non-refundable application fee, First and last months rent of $225.00. In addition to that, the perspective new resident must have a beacon score of 650 on their credit report. Now, the score is “flexible” depending on how they “look”…? whatever that means. Anyway from 650 down to 600. The way I look at it is this, If the property management will say ok to this new resident, their credit is good enough for me. Also, with the deposit money, this will show a true intent to hag around. This is all part of the business of which I am no part of. I’m only the resident manager and I dont review the credit report.
Ahem. Doc, you’ve pushed me to my limit again … - Posted by Jerry Freeman
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 03, 2002 at 18:46:13:
There are two words, loose (which means the opposite of tight) and lose (which means the opposite of win or gain).
If you loose some weight, I will run away as fast as I can so none of it lands on me. If you lose some weight, then maybe I’ll have trouble recogizing you.
If you have a few loose dollars you don’t know what to do with, email them to me, and my wife will use them to adopt another child (I can’t remember how many children we have now – five, I think. What day of the week is this?)
Anyway, since I haven’t succeeded yet at creating world peace or stopping global warming, I’ll just fuss at your spelling again for a few minutes and imagine that I’m making the world a better and safer place.
Bob, what percentage of your applicants … - Posted by Jerry Freeman
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 04, 2002 at 08:15:31:
… have scores of 650 or better (even 600 or better). To get institutional financing usually only requires a score of 620 or better. If such applicants were easy to find, Lonnie dealers wouldn’t need to be so creative about looking for cash to continue putting into their deals.
Best wishes,
Jerry
P.S. Teaching job? Never have been a teacher. In July of last year, I lost my dotcom job and became a fulltime MH investor (after several months of research and test marketing). The job I lost in the dotcom meltdown was managing editor and director of content development for a health related website.
Re: Ahem. Doc, you’ve pushed me to my limit . - Posted by BIGDADDY(MD)
Posted by BIGDADDY(MD) on July 05, 2002 at 12:44:06:
Jerry,
I think that you should take some of the money out of your wallet,(that you would normally use to adopt needy children with), and try purchasing a dictionary that has the PHONETIC spelling of the words you so desire to correct people on. Since the words you speak of are obviously different, I believe that this just may be the best purchase you could ever make. Good Luck with your future career as an English professor.
P.S. God Bless you for adopting so many needy children. I know you wouldn’t make up a lie about something so serious.
…watch my money than my spelling. So losen up a little guy before you have canipitions. If you keep having more adopted kids, I know the cure. Keep your wallet zipped up. Their their now Jerry, everything will be OK. My greatest fear is that someday someone may actually offend me and I might challenge them to a duel. Then when I give them their choice of weapons, and they might choose spelling bees.
While you were busy criticizing another man’s English, I believe you left your participles dangling for all to see:
…“spelling of the words you so desire to correct people on.”…
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 07, 2002 at 07:03:55:
… whose time has been wasted by this string of posts. This was really a personal matter between me and Craig that I should have dealt with in a private email.
If we get into nitpicking over spelling, punctuation and grammar, we’ll never get any work done.
This is apropos of nothing … - Posted by Jerry Freeman
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 03, 2002 at 21:39:13:
… but I might as well post it anyway.
When I was in eighth grade, a few decades ago, I encountered a book called “Anguish Languish,” the theme of which was to create a new language by using words that sound like the word you intend to use, but isn’t. Somehow, this string of posts reminded me of it.
For example, the well-known folk song,
“Hormone Derange”
Oh, gummier hum
Warder buffer lore rum
Warder dare enter envelopes ply
War soiled em assured
Adage cur itching wart
End disguise earn it clotty oil die
Harm, hormone derange
Warder dare enter envelopes ply
War soiled em assured
Adage cur itching wart
End disguise earn it clotty oil die.
Happy fourth,
Jerry
Did I misread Doc’s post, or did he challenge me to a dual?
…that the theme of a book does not change with the passage of time. It stays the same forever… and ever…and ever…Therefore you should have written that the theme IS to create a new language…
In this case, “was” reads better … - Posted by Jerry Freeman
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 04, 2002 at 07:48:56:
… and is perfectly correct. The theme was, is and ever shall be to create a new language, etc.
I read that book almost forty years ago. “Was” reads better because the time of the sentence in which it appears is the distant past, when I read it. The book is probably out of print now.
It would be just as strange to say that when I was two years old, I used a spoon that has a curled handle that makes it easy for a child to hold. It’s more natural to say that when I was two years old, I used a spoon that HAD a curved handle. That spoon still exists (my mother sent it to me recently and it’s on my desk somewhere), but that doesn’t make it incorrect to refer to it in the past tense in a sentence about something that happened a long time ago.
Someone once criticized Winston Churchill for ending a sentence with a preposition. He responded, “It is this kind of foolishness with which I will not put up.”
I started this thread because I was irritated at Doc’s wasting my time by being so careless about his spelling. That’s an issue for me because I volunteered to download all his posts for him, correct the spelling, and forward them to him so he can make them into a book. When I see him making the same spelling mistake repeatedly, especially one that would be easy for him to avoid making but time consuming for me to correct because spell checking software won’t catch it, I believe I have the right to point it out to him.
However, I don’t generally take kindly to nitpicking that serves no practical purpose.
Best wishes,
Jerry
P.S. According to the rules of the Anguish languish, the first line of “Hormone Derange” should begin with “Hoe,” rather than “Oh.”
Re: In this case, “was” reads better … - Posted by Bob,On,Ca.
Posted by Bob,On,Ca. on July 04, 2002 at 21:57:27:
As I know both of you guys must have a life, could we get back to moble homes and maybe learn something.
p.s. I can’t spell eithor but that doesn’t stop one from making a buck.
thanks
I’ll add one more layer … - Posted by Jerry Freeman
Posted by Jerry Freeman on July 04, 2002 at 16:58:36:
… to this analysis.
The book I read had a red cover, followed a certain theme and used word games as a teaching tool.
My statement referred to a specific book that I read when I was in the eighth grade. It didn’t refer to a published work of writing, of which there may still be copies extant.
I was writing about a specific book – the one with the red cover, that followed a certain theme, that used word games. The one I got at the grade school library from Mrs. Hamilton. The one I read in Mrs. Miller’s English class. That one – the one that was in Harper School on Alvord Boulevard in Evansville, Indiana in about 1965. That book existed then, but I have no way of knowing anything about what has happened to it since then. Maybe it has a different theme now. I have no way of knowing.