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Post by wenonah4th on Aug 27, 2008 8:37:16 GMT -5
or in formal academic papers. I remembered that just as I was hitting "post".
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Post by annieb on Dec 15, 2008 17:54:50 GMT -5
The lack of contractions didn't bug me at all. I had no problem with them.
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Post by wenonah4th on Dec 16, 2008 8:17:29 GMT -5
But have you ever heard anyone actually talk that way?
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Post by cokiemason on Dec 16, 2008 12:55:41 GMT -5
It bugged me to no end. I always compare the kids to people I know... like my nephew is 7 as well. He does NOT talk like some hoity-toity brat. He talks like a kid cause *gasp* he IS! I hate Karen. And word on the writing all in caps thing!
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Post by annieb on Dec 16, 2008 12:56:14 GMT -5
LOL. Have YOU ever heard anyone talk that way? ;D
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Post by wenonah4th on Dec 17, 2008 8:01:17 GMT -5
No, I haven't heard anyone talk that way. However, my father writes in all caps, sort of; where a capital letter belongs, it's larger, but all the letters are capital. Strange, I know. He says he developed that way of writing to be legible back when drafting was still done by hand and he was labeling that sort of drawing.
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Post by ringdings on Dec 17, 2008 9:22:29 GMT -5
^^I've seen lots of designers/architects write like that. I still think that way of printing is taught in some schools.
I've never heard a kid talk that way, but sometimes I do, when I want to emphasize a point. "I do NOT like green eggs and ham..." And no, I did NOT get that from Karen (LOL).
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Post by wenonah4th on Dec 18, 2008 6:39:07 GMT -5
Very cute.
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tiff85
Junior Sitter
Posts: 583
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Post by tiff85 on Dec 19, 2008 19:01:04 GMT -5
The lack of contractions didn't annoy me either.
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Post by anzuhana on Feb 27, 2010 10:38:09 GMT -5
I don't mind that Karen doesn't use contractions but I find it odd that none of the adults use contractions.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Feb 27, 2010 14:09:41 GMT -5
i hate that karen doesn't use contractions. mostly i just hate karen, but the writers try so freaking hard to point out that karen is so smart and so precocious. i got it the first time -- beating it into my head is just annoying. the way that karen always insisted she was right and everybody else was wrong put me off. the capitals things bothered me too, because it seemed pretty out of character.
speaking of capitals though, my boyfriend had perfectly normal handwriting when i met him (he could have used some of karen's spelling lessons though), but once he enlisted they were taught to write all in caps. now he doesn't even remember how to make lowercase letters. i understand it's part of his job and i know he'll probably be fine when he gets out of the military, but it makes me sad that something so NORMAL is hard for him now.
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Lila
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 293
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Post by Lila on Aug 26, 2010 3:18:51 GMT -5
I think its to give the kids reading the book a better impression or something. I've seen other kid books written properly in the hopes of the writer that some of the writing will rub off on the kids.
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Post by BuckinghamAlice on Feb 14, 2011 7:14:05 GMT -5
But not using contractions isn't more proper. It's just more pretentious and annoying, which describes Karen pretty accurately.
It bugs me to no end. Even as a kid I hated it. That was why I didn't read more LS books.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Feb 14, 2011 17:32:19 GMT -5
^ I was just reading Super Mystery #1 over the weekend and it drove me nuts that Karen wrote in all upper case whens she's such a freak about grammar/spelling!
I hate that they didn't use contractions, but then I thought about the target audience for those books - 2nd grade or so? - it was probably easier for them. BTW (random) but when I typed "target," I capitalized it because I always think of the store Target when I type that word. I worked there for 7 years!
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Post by greer on Feb 15, 2011 8:17:32 GMT -5
In ESL classes, you're supposed to emphasize that native speakers almost always use contractions in speech.
It is more proper in the sense that contractions don't belong in formal writing, though.
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