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| WEEK 7, 2008 |
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Sunday, February 10, 2008 DEFINING "CLASSIC" It is very difficult to define (any) "Global Picture" in news this week--everything is too chaotic. Therefore, we decided to define the notion of "classic" instead. Now, we say our book "Logically Structured English Grammar" presents the "classic" English grammar, though we have noticed that many readers--including most English teachers--do not understand this term: classic. Unfortunately, the word "classic" has multiple meanings, therefore it is difficult to associate precisely one of its meanings to specific contexts. The best thing to do is to start with little history. The word "classic", and the idea/notion of "classic", was first used during Hellenic (Latin) Civilization--the most advanced culture on our planet, ever!--about 2500-3000 years ago. The word "classic" is an adjective used to qualify nouns. Definitions Meaning 1. The adjective "classic" is used to highlight that the noun it qualifies has formal/conventional characteristics. Meaning 2. When the adjective "classic" is used to qualify (the idea of) collective nouns it takes the meanings of: 2A. general/common characteristics (similar to "standard" or "common reference") 2B. the best characteristics (taken as absolute/ideal reference) |
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| Let's see few graphical representations
of the above definitions. The Latins have defined the classic style in architecture--and also in music, in
painting, in literature, and in many others. Accordingly, the capital of the columns belongs to one of the
following three styles: 1. Doric, or the austere/Spartan/(simple classic) style 2. Ionic, or the true classic style 3. Corinthian, or floral/decorative style |
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| Taken as collective nouns (in meaning,
as ideas) all three styles of column capitals are "classic". Note, however, that there are subgroups in
any classic category of nouns, and then there are subgroups within subgroups. Particularly interesting is the notion of classic in literature. The form of a classic literary document must be structured in: 1. The introduction which can span on few chapters. In the introduction part, the author presents the main characters, and the social/political/geographical characteristics in which the future plot/action is going to be developed. Most important, in the introduction part is presented the cause/reason behind future actions/plot/descriptions/narrations. 2. The content spanning on most chapters in a document. In the content part, the action/description is developed, therefore the plot/topic becomes perfectly clear. New characters may be introduced in this part, and new social/political/geographical developments are needed to build up (possibly, the mystery of) the action. 3. The epilogue which is always a lot shorter than the introduction part. In epilogue is explained (the mystery of) the action developed in the content part. In meaning, when the adjective "classic" qualifies the noun "books" or "authors" [both nouns are here in plural form because they work in fact as collective nouns--again, in meaning] things are more complex. The notion of a "classic book" refers to a book that is generally accepted as a true value defining a specific style. In the same time, a "classic author" is a writer considered a "reference" in literature. Taken together, classic books and classic authors form the basic fundament of our education--though also the minimal one. There are many classic writers in our Civilization (few thousands) but, unfortunately, they are segregated based on their language or country. For example, there are Russian classics, French, English, American, German, etc. Regardless, no person today (and forever) may consider himself an intellectual without knowing ALL CLASSIC AUTHORS. Any serious education has to be UNIVERSAL; otherwise, it is just a mockery of education. Now, we used the adjective "classic" to qualify our book "Logically Structured English Grammar". That means, our book presents the reference English grammar, the academic version, which is valid for the entire English world regardless of any regional nuances/variations. English grammar is the collective work of thousands of people during the last five centuries. Even more, there is only one grammatical structure valid for all Latin-roots languages. In other words, grammatical structure presented in LSEG (say, Morphology and Syntax) is the same in French grammar, in German grammar, in Italian grammar, in Spanish grammar, and so on. The "classic" English grammar is taught today only in few reputable universities. In all other educational institutions, English grammar is presented "simplified". However, in English grammar "things" make grammatical sense only in manuals used in those few universities we mentioned: therefore, those manuals have been used as "true" references while writing LSEG. The idea was, LSEG has been intentionally written to explain English grammar logically, based on grammatical forms (Morphology) and on grammatical relations (Syntax). In opposition, most English grammar books existing today on the market teach you "tricks" (say, the "3 forms conditional", "modifiers", or "diagramming") which cannot help anybody understand anything since they miss grammatical logic/reasons. Please note that we do not try to "sell" our books to anyone; we can live perfectly well with the little orders we get. If you do want to learn, then we ONLY SUGGEST our books; if you do not want to learn--what the heck; that is just fine with us. After all, we are people not machines. Better, read this. *** |
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comments regarding this page using support@corollarytheorems.com Page last updated on: May 09, 2009 © Corollary Theorems Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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