Can I get feedback on my paragraph?

[RoseHawke]

Quote:
True, but it's not correct. Unless things have changed (possible, language is a fluid thing, and it's been many years since I did much writing) the correct usage in formal writing would be to use the singular pronoun "he." So it would be "If a person lacks a healthy dose of skepticism, he will be unable. . . ." I know to our PC ears it sounds a bit wrong, but the "he" is simply understood to mean both genders.

Oh, what the hay, I'll take a stab at it as well -

In his essay The Burden of Skepticism Carl Sagan suggests that too much skepticism or the lack of skepticism can be hazardous. If a person lacks a healthy dose of skepticism, he will be unable to distinguish the difference between a good idea and a bad idea and believe everything that he hears. Sagan also believes that a person can be too skeptical and leave himself unable to learn anything new or improve his station in life. He concludes that a healthy skeptic lives with an open mind to new ideas, tests them out in theory or in practice and bases his judgment on the results of his findings.

I removed the parenthetical commas around the title of the essay. I'm not sure those are necessary, but you can take that with a grain of salt. Commas never were my strong suit.​

 

[Teach97]

some people say my wife must be lucky to have me cuz it must be fun!

My wife just tells them that I am this way all the time

 

[tabsmonsters]

Ok, stupid question. do I underline or italicize the title of the essay? On my paper, I underlined it. But it isn't a book just an essay. Its all the little rules that get me. So much info and my brain gets it all confused.

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
True, but it's not correct. Unless things have changed (possible, language is a fluid thing, and it's been many years since I did much writing) the correct usage in formal writing would be to use the singular pronoun "he." So it would be "If a person lacks a healthy dose of skepticism, he will be unable. . . ." I know to our PC ears it sounds a bit wrong, but the "he" is simply understood to mean both genders.

It is correct.

b: 1he 2 —often used with an indefinite third person singular antecedent <everyone knew where they stood — E. L. Doctorow><nobody has to go to school if they don't want to — N. Y. Times>

 

[HorseFeathers]

Instead of "can be" I always write "may be". I'm just funny old-fashioned like that. Yesterday my friends cracked up reading an essay I wrote where I said things like "Why,___!", "Perhaps", and "quaint".

 

[RoseHawke]

Quote:
True, but it's not correct. Unless things have changed (possible, language is a fluid thing, and it's been many years since I did much writing) the correct usage in formal writing would be to use the singular pronoun "he." So it would be "If a person lacks a healthy dose of skepticism, he will be unable. . . ." I know to our PC ears it sounds a bit wrong, but the "he" is simply understood to mean both genders.

It is correct.

b: 1he 2 —often used with an indefinite third person singular antecedent <everyone knew where they stood — E. L. Doctorow><nobody has to go to school if they don't want to — N. Y. Times>

I would think not if she uses "A person" in the first part of the sentence. The number doesn't agree. "They" would be perfectly fine if she uses "people" instead and goes on from there to make sure everything agrees.

My grammar knowledge is really quite basic, but that's one thing I do know. Unless the rules have changed?

 

[ksacres]

It's flexible. Language is a funny thing.

Indefinite third person singular is exactly what this is. But, I'm not here to argue semantics. If it looks wrong to you, there's nothing I can do about it. Lots of things look wrong to me, or sound wrong that are technically correct. It's just not how *I* would word it.

 

[coffeemama]

Quote:
Good to know.

 

[byrandom]

Quote:
In the exerpt that I have italicisized above -- would that not confuse he as in Sagan with the "general" he? I believe that the sentences contain too many pronouns, confusing the reader. My professors would be all over that... They would more than likely dock points from me, as well.

To battle against that, as I've learned, you must rearrange your ideas, change words, and, at times, change tenses.

In the essay The Burden of Skepticism, author Carl Sagan suggested that an abunance of skepticism, or the lack thereof, can be extremely hazardous. If an individual lacks a healthy dose of skepticism, he would be unable to distinguish the difference between a good or bad idea, while at the same time believing everything that is heard. Sagan also believed that a person can be too skeptical, hindering any chance to imporove one's knowledge or station in life. Thus, he concluded, a healthy skeptic is one that lives with an open mind to new ideas, testing them out in theory or in practice, and uses the results to develop a response.

Or something to that affect. I'm not an English major -- but that was my meager attempt.​

 

[mom'sfolly]

There is a bit of a pronuoun issue in the last sentence. The "He" is clear because you have been talking about Carl Sagen, but the "test them", "their judgement" and their findings" are somewhat unclear because the reader is not certain if you are talking about Carl Sagan or the skeptic. So here goes my edit......just to confuse you


He concludes that a healthy skeptic lives with a mind open to new ideas, tests the ideas in theory and in practice, and judges based on the results of those tests. 0r judges based on the tests' results.

The second loses the dependent clause.

What class is this paragraph for? And how hard is the teacher? I've had professors who would let sloppy language go if the point was made; but most were not so lenient. I had a friend in college, a math major, who in an upper level math course had three times as many points taken off for English errors as for math errors.