Re: off topic: Grammer Question

[Ed Reading ereading@xxxxxxxx]

I recommend Somerset Maugham's view of grammar: "Usage is the only test. I
prefer a phrase that is easy and unaffected to a phrase that is grammatical."
But the current discussion is more about style than grammar, so I refer you
to _The Elements of Style_, Chapter V, "An Approach to Style," in which the
author performs an instructive little riff on Tom Paine's declaration,
"These are the times that try men's souls." Why just that word order, White
asks. Why not...

    *Times like these try men's souls.
    *How trying it is to live in these times!
    *These are trying times for men's souls.
    *Soulwise, these are trying times.
And now I see that, in the preceding paragraph, I said "instructive little
riff," which is quite the opposite pattern to "big green door." Don't know why.

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Ed Reading