"There was tons of information" this locution would seem to be perfectly correct if the idea is that the information was just a big pile of stuff.
Consider:
There was tons of coal in the yard - all in one pile of unknown size.
There were tons of coal in the yard - all neatly laid out in one ton piles.
A linguistics education is a terrible thing to use.
Posted by Oscar at March 21, 2005 2:10 PMThere are the linguistics and then there are the writing gud.
Posted by Gerard Van Der Leun at March 21, 2005 2:36 PMScroll down a bit on http://www.oliverwillis.com/. In the column on the right is a picture of "Your Host" Oliver Willis.
As much as I don't like making judgements of a person's qualities or nature based on his appearance, Mr. Willis choice of pictures demands I make an execption to the rule. A person, who of his own volition, uses a picture of himself looking like a smug brainiac is clearly a dumbass.
Posted by JubJub at March 21, 2005 2:51 PMGerard, the prevailing level of English grammar is so low that Oliver probably ranks no worse than average. Who knows? In the company he keeps, he might well be considered a genius with words. Remember what that Florida Democratic Party mouthpiece said during the post-polling 2000 election agonies? "Democrat voters are stupider."
Posted by Francis W. Porretto at March 21, 2005 3:07 PMActually, Oliver ranks below average. I stopped reading him partly because of that. Then there are the asinine remarks he makes regarding any subject he deems too "stupid" to really get into--he makes a blanket statement about said subject's stupidity, and then leaves it up to his commenters to throw in whatever snark they can think of. At the end of the day, he's got himself a bonified bitchfest with zero substance.
And somehow he's getting thousands of hits a day. The world is a screwy place, it is.
Posted by Jeremiah at March 21, 2005 3:36 PMIs our children learning?
Posted by George W. Bush at March 21, 2005 3:54 PMThanks, teach! Sheesh.
Posted by Oliver at March 21, 2005 5:38 PMAny time, kid.
Posted by Gerard Van Der Leun at March 21, 2005 7:23 PMBe easy on the kid, Gerard. After all, he told PBS:
"Other than opinion journalism, there isn't much investigation to be found in the blog world. It exists, but is usually done by people who make their living doing journalism (like Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo.com). The rest of us act more as interpreters of the news that comes down from the big companies (AP, Reuters, New York TIMES, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY). I don't define this interpretation as 'journalism,' unless we're willing do define 'mouthing off' (what most bloggers really do) as journalism. To compare my mouthing off with people actually doing work is pretty silly."
So there you have it. He mouths off and insists that's all the rest of we bloggers do, too.
My personal recommendation is that he could at least get a picture of himself taken in a collared shirt, or a suit and tie. Yeesh.
Posted by Perry at March 22, 2005 12:02 AMAdd a bag and you're there.
Posted by Gerard Van Der Leun at March 22, 2005 12:12 AMO-Dub is, for me, something of a guilty pleasure. When I want to measure the left's incoherence on an issue, he can usually provide Exhibit A near the top of his blog. When I want to read the same incoherence translated into competent English, I read Wolcott. When I want to judge how deep the paranoia runs, I look it up on Democratic Underground. Then there's Yglesias: smart, well-educated, polite, erudite, and consistently wrong.
Masterful, Gerard, just masterful.
You is a grate riter. I wishes I could rite like you.
Posted by Donald Sensing at March 22, 2005 8:53 PMYou want an example of who Oliver Willis is emulating?
Posted by Henry Scharf at March 23, 2005 1:16 PMGerard, did I miss example D?
Posted by Bravo Romeo Delta at March 25, 2005 8:25 PMJust curious...if the point of this page is to prove that you're more meticulous in grammar than another person, wouldn't it make sense to spell "Oliver" correctly in the headline instead of "Olvier?" Or is it somehow very subtle humor that I'm missing?
Posted by phidler at July 29, 2005 8:46 AMNoted and corrected. Thanks.