http://www.englishforums.com/English/LinguisticsDiscussionForum/Forum35.htmGet into the nitty-gritty of the language.enXMOD (Build: 3607.32596)http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495782Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495782Grammar Geek0http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495782http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495782.xmlLook, for what it's worth, at no point did I say anything about whether it was good style or bad style. You asked whether it sounds archaic or literary. I answered that it sounds like Jane Austen, who happens to be one of my favorite writers. Of course there's no universally correct writing style. I didn't say "I wouldn't write this way" or "No one will understand you if you do." If there is a flaw in your sentence, it is not in the style, but in the lack of understand your reader will have in understanding self-irony. (DId that Web site make much sense to you? Sheesh. Social scientists really know how to obfuscate.) P.S. Please send me some spicy peanut sauce when you have a moment.http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495653Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495653Anonymous1http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495653http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495653.xmlThanks for all the input. Everyone needs a little help sometimes... after all, no man is an island :) I agree with Cool Breese; everyone has their own style. Besides, people still read classics these days and, to my knowledge, there has been no great effort to 'translate' every one of them into modern English...so why should everyone write like Stephen King? When I write, I have no specific audience in mind in terms of ethnicity. I am a Finn living in Thailand, and I interact with people of all nationalities, each of which have their own ways of speaking 'English'. I would feel a little hypocritical even trying to find some universally 'correct' way of writing. Anyways, to me this is just a hobby, a time...http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495538Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495538Forbes2http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495538http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495538.xml"Their disdain rarely failed to evoke in him a delayed sense of self-irony not at all fatal in nature." Anyone who can write like that does not need help.http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495307Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495307Cool Breeze3http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495307http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495307.xmlI find your sentence very satisfactory. It may be Jane Austenish but there is no law against such language even today. Why should everybody speak and write in exactly the same way in English? People don't do that in many other languages. I see no mistakes in punctuation or hyphens but I know one native forum member who would consider the sentence incorrect because it contains a relative clause from which the relative pronoun has been omitted even though it is the subject of the clause: Their disdain rarely failed to evoke in him a delayed sense of self-irony not at all fatal in nature. CBhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495250Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495250Anonymous4http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495250http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495250.xmlgrammatically, it looks OK. It sounds too long. Yes, it sounds too long and too archaic. And what is self-irony?http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495040Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495040Grammar Geek5http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htm#495040http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495040.xmlIt's extremely literay, and sounds like something from the Jane Austen-era of writing. I'm not quite sure what "a sense of self-irony" is, but basically: He felt their disdain for him, and later on, it usually gave him a sense of self-irony, but it wasn't a truly terrible feeling.http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htmMon, 23 Feb 2009 13:05:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:495028Anonymous6http://www.englishforums.com/English/DoesSentenceSoundRight/zpmpz/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments35-495028.xml"Their disdain rarely failed to evoke in him a delayed sense of self-irony not at all fatal in nature." First of all, is that sentence at all grammatically correct? Did I miss any hyphens? Punctuation? What about the style, does it sound too literary or archaic? How would you paraphrase the sentence to convey the same meaning more stylistically? I tried to achieve a type of a surreal mood to play down the significance of the 'disdain' and imply that the subject has capacity for self-irony, and, at the same time, get a hint of indignation to speak in the background. It's embarrassing, I feel like a beggar asking for a coin to spare. None the less, I feel like some kind of a wake-up call is a necessary step...