It makes the rule somewhat subjective though; "wear and tear" are past a tipping point where the related concepts are generally regarded as elements of a single one, while "Twitter and texting" are not, despite the fact that some (e.g. DK and I) already regard them that way.
Do you often say Twitter and texting together? Whenever you mention Twitter do you add texting as well? Do you say, "I was Twittering and texting"? Do you say, "kids these days with their Twitter and texting"? Or is it just in this one particular instance and usage that you consider them to represent a singular idea, and in every other usage of them together they wouldn't be used that way? If so, then I rest my case. :p
Because you can't actually argue that specific intent on a case by case basis should inform grammar. I mean, if I were to say, "My brother and sister has a plan", that would be incorrect. If I argue that I consider my brother and my sister to both be instrumental to a plan that they came up with together from start to finish and that they should be considered a singular subject insofar as it concerns the plan, that doesn't make it grammatically correct.
To be fair, I rarely use them at all, and performing either is unheard of for me, but Twitter seems like no more than a particular form of texting to me. I would not say, "kids today with their Twitter and their texting" because I would simply say, "texting" and mean that to include Twitter.
Honorbound and honored to be Bonded to Mahtaliel Sedai
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!![](/site_media/images/smilies/cries.gif)
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
![](/site_media/images/smilies/cries.gif)
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
Grammar junkies
05/10/2011 06:46:31 PM
- 1004 Views
I'm not always sure that I'm correct, but....
05/10/2011 07:04:13 PM
- 697 Views
I didn't see any errors
05/10/2011 07:24:27 PM
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Must ... have ... grammar.
05/10/2011 07:53:34 PM
- 861 Views
For you and Tom as well, the same question about question eight.
05/10/2011 08:33:39 PM
- 1077 Views
Tom can probably give you actual terms and correct rules, but here's my take on it.
05/10/2011 08:43:47 PM
- 635 Views
Er...yes I meant them as a singular idea...
*NM*
05/10/2011 08:47:34 PM
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Use them together, and only together, for fifteen years and we can discuss this again. *NM*
05/10/2011 09:32:30 PM
- 344 Views
That makes sense as far as it goes.
05/10/2011 09:02:42 PM
- 667 Views
But do you actually regard them that way?
05/10/2011 09:08:36 PM
- 656 Views
Yeah, pretty much.
05/10/2011 09:25:18 PM
- 615 Views
No, Joel. You're just wrong. Again. Get used to it. We have.
05/10/2011 09:31:21 PM
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I can live with being wrong, at least in the sense of technical error.
05/10/2011 10:06:30 PM
- 662 Views
Let's just pare this down to the bare bones.
06/10/2011 01:37:30 AM
- 521 Views
He made a mistake that I did not recognize as a mistake because I read his words as he intended.
06/10/2011 04:43:39 AM
- 674 Views
You bring up a point that I was researching the other day
05/10/2011 08:53:40 PM
- 713 Views
You guys mean a hyphen, not a dash.
05/10/2011 09:00:25 PM
- 655 Views
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You're right of course!
05/10/2011 09:13:44 PM
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I frequently am.
05/10/2011 09:16:38 PM
- 731 Views
So I've noticed.
05/10/2011 09:19:38 PM
- 649 Views
Achtung! Grammatik! :insert Nazi-saluting smiley as the Wehrmacht marches by:
05/10/2011 08:10:45 PM
- 753 Views
Good poll, especially for this site.
05/10/2011 08:11:10 PM
- 744 Views
Re: Grammar junkies
05/10/2011 08:33:06 PM
- 652 Views
People should talk in a way that can be understood, else they are not communicating.
05/10/2011 09:17:37 PM
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Re: "everyone's". ~winky~ *NM*
05/10/2011 09:22:18 PM
- 329 Views
Is it time for my lecture on superfluous apostrophes again?
05/10/2011 09:43:47 PM
- 611 Views
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Unsurprisingly, I don't really agree with you at all on this point. :p
05/10/2011 10:29:59 PM
- 678 Views
I do not really think I am "right" on this one so much as "not wrong."
06/10/2011 12:01:36 AM
- 590 Views
But contradictions are inherent in the entire English language!
06/10/2011 01:25:39 AM
- 608 Views
Ghoti. Also, this is why Rebekah and don't argue this any more.
*NM*
06/10/2011 04:44:42 AM
- 292 Views
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Sure, but not deliberate ones created by grammarians who know better.
06/10/2011 05:40:58 AM
- 610 Views
I'm going to listen to the others.
06/10/2011 06:17:18 AM
- 635 Views
Like I say, I appreciate exceptions when justified (and again, only claiming to be "not wrong." )
06/10/2011 07:26:18 AM
- 532 Views
But you are wrong
06/10/2011 02:17:40 PM
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I disagree.
07/10/2011 12:15:14 AM
- 608 Views
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How utterly unsurprising
07/10/2011 02:21:38 PM
- 555 Views
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"We want to be nothing if not persistent."
07/10/2011 02:39:19 PM
- 602 Views
Doesn't matter.
07/10/2011 03:12:14 PM
- 652 Views
Perhaps not, but it should, and I am not above being a lone voice crying in the wilderness.
08/10/2011 05:17:35 PM
- 696 Views
What.
06/10/2011 06:17:41 PM
- 704 Views
Those cases are not the same, because those words are already possessive in their own right.
06/10/2011 10:52:06 PM
- 698 Views
if you have trouble understanding my post it is more likely do to typing skills than grammar
05/10/2011 09:31:42 PM
- 614 Views
Likely so; I have the same problem, but usually when writing by hand.
05/10/2011 09:53:08 PM
- 596 Views
#1) I do not use NetSpeak while playing games, texting or using social media.
05/10/2011 11:34:12 PM
- 609 Views
What about NateSpeak? *NM*
06/10/2011 04:01:08 PM
- 307 Views
I did use that once to tell the story of you and CNRedDragon going to see Ice Princess. *NM*
07/10/2011 01:46:50 AM
- 307 Views
I freebase split infinitives on a regular basis.
06/10/2011 01:53:36 PM
- 536 Views