At least some TD Tips, such as in 13C and 13D, are explanations/examples of using the rule. They help clarify how the rule gets applied and what verifications can be done to better determine when to apply it.
One of the reasons for not simply including them as part of the rule is the tendency of some people to think that including some cases as part of a rule means that those are the only cases the rule applies to, thus triggering an effort to have the rule explicitly mention every possible situation it should be applied to (hello four thousand page rulebook).
How about you PM Tim Just instead of posting this to the forum? (Do you really need anyone to verify that “an” is the correct article before “increment”?)
I would just like to add one more thing here. Posting a new suggestion or recommendation or request is one thing. Continually “bumping” old threads that have died a natural death is another. It is considered bad “netiquette”, and it tends to annoy people. If a thread has had no new postings for several months, it generally means that people have lost interest in that topic (or were never interested in the first place). Such threads should be left in the graveyard where they belong.
I did PM Tim Just about this previously (and he didn’t add this to the TD Tip so maybe I need someone else to verify that “an” is the correct article before “increment”).
Well, it’s obvious that, if there is a correct article, it would be “an” instead of “a” because “increment” begins with a vowel. It certainly wouldn’t be “the” either.
But is an article necessary at all? If the phrase were simply “using increment,” and then a comma, I’d say no, and in fact adding an article would sound awkward in that case.
But since the phrase is “using increment control”, I guess I’d concede that “using an increment control” sounds better. The article is modifying “control”, not “increment”.
I used to think I was precise in my use of grammar until I started studying French, but recently it seems even the AP Style Guide uses and even encourages language constructions that I would have gotten a big red mark for using in high school.
However, having said that, “an increment time control” or “increment time controls” both seem less clumsy. I don’t really have a preference between the two.
Such as “their” used in the singular for “his or her”, no doubt. That still bugs me, too, but I’m still willing to yield to that particular piece of political correctness.
Something like “My hair needs cut” or “The car needs washed” makes me want to scream repeatedly like Sam Kinison. Correct is “My hair needs to be cut” (or perhaps “My hair needs cutting”). I don’t know when this particular construction became acceptable (my opinion is that it never did), but I’d sure like to turn the clock back.
As for “increment time control” – I agree that that is awkward with or without an article. I prefer “time control with increment”. “Increment time control” sounds like a time control composed entirely of increments: the clock reads 0 until you start it, then you have the increment (30 seconds or whatever), and then you add another 30 seconds each further time the clock is pressed. Nothing but increments – the base time is 0. I doubt if anyone has ever actually done this, but that would be a true “increment time control”.
Well, please do your screaming somewhere outside of my earshot. When I see a phrase like that on a forum, I immediately hear a thick accent – somebody whose first language is not English, trying mightily to communicate in a new language they are still struggling with. I admire them for their effort.
It has been said that if you speak two languages, you’re bilingual, if you speak three languages, you’re multi-lingual, and if you speak one language, you’re American. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
Oops, I see I ended a sentence with a preposition, above. When Winston Churchill was scolded for this sin, his response was “This is the kind of foolish nonsense up with which I shall not put.”
I have never heard or seen the phrase in question (or any of its variants) from anyone but native born and bred Americans who have been speaking English all their lives. I am familiar with many of the typical odd grammatical patterns of non-native English speakers (most common is omitting the definite or indefinite article before a noun – which doesn’t bother me at all). My example (from my last post) is not one of them. It is something that has somehow crept into normal American English usage, and I wish it would creep back out. It is stunningly ugly and ungrammatical.
The phrase you quote may be a regionalism. I have never heard of it. And the reason many foreign born English speakers tend to omit articles is because many of the world’s languages don’t have them. English is in the minority in having articles. Using them is one of the hardest things to master for those who didn’t grow up with them.
When the discussion devolves to this level of banality, it rather demonstrates the uselessness of the whole project.
One can endless tweak. One can attempt to define and explain every circumstance. That adds little to nothing to the utility of the project. At some point one must say “good enough - ship it”. That point passed long ago. Fortunately for US Chess leadership understands that. Frankly so do most of the delegates.
Even if any of these suggestions had value, which is debatable, there are other things far more critical to US Chess for the team to be doing than endless nattering about minutia. As Alex correctly concluded, I believe such not just a waste of time but harmful if it causes misplaced priorities.
I don’t think it is worth the time to go through the rulebook making sure the grammar is perfect, but if something is being revised because the rule or tip is changing or being clarified, it is worthwhile to make sure it is well-written. Good writing is always better than bad writing.
That’s not the whole story. Many languages (I think both Spanish and German are in this category) have articles, but don’t use them in every situation where English typically uses them. Identification phrases are often good examples. You are more likely to hear “Carmelita es doctora” than “Carmelita es una doctora”.
President Kennedy was inadequately advised when he went to Germany and told everybody “Ich bin ein Berliner.” True Germans would probably just say “Ich bin Berliner.”