0

I asked a question whether "it is more difficult and nobler an enterprise" is grammatical. It was closed as off topic. They who voted to close it said it is proofreading and therefore off topic. IMO, this is not a trivial question, because some native speakers think it is grammatical while some don't.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/324842/having-troubles-together-with-a-poor-stupid-girl-is-more-difficult-and-nobler-an?noredirect=1#comment739869_324842

Since the point of the original question is clear, I don't see why it was closed as proofreading.

6
  • @sumelic I think the issue is clear. Why do you think otherwise?
    – ivanhoescott
    Jun 6, 2016 at 5:02
  • Maybe they don't know the difference between writing style and grammar? I did not ask whether the sentence was written in good writing style.
    – ivanhoescott
    Jun 6, 2016 at 5:36
  • 3
    The problem is that you only asked the general question "Is the sentence ungrammatical?" It seemed to me that your question was about the specific part "more difficult and nobler an enterprise," but apparently 5 other users didn't understand that. I should have been clearer when I posted my earlier comment: when your question is closed for a reason like this, you should simply edit it to make it more specific. Just add a sentence like "I was told the phrase 'more difficult and nobler an enterprise" sounds ungrammatical.' "
    – herisson
    Jun 6, 2016 at 6:20
  • @sumelic I referred to TRomano's comment in the question who clearly said "it is more difficult and nobler an enterprise" is ungrammatical. If you didn't read the comment, you were not entitled to vote to close the question.
    – ivanhoescott
    Jun 7, 2016 at 4:24
  • You linked to the page that has TRomano's comment, but you didn't explain the context in your post. I don't know what the point of your second sentence is – I didn't vote to close your question.
    – herisson
    Jun 7, 2016 at 4:31
  • @sumeric I linked to the page, which explains the context. If you don't read the page, you would not know the context. In that case, that would not be my fault.
    – ivanhoescott
    Jun 8, 2016 at 0:04

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Yes it is off topic unless you identify a specific source of concern.

I don't understand why you think the point of the original question is clear as I see only one point in your question.

It was posted in Lang-8, where native English speakers are supposed to correct it if necessary. However, no one corrected it.

  1. Does it mean that in Lang-8, all ungrammatical sentences are corrected and changed to perfectly grammatical sentences by native English speakers? How can you be so sure?

  2. It sounds like since it was not corrected in Lang-8, the sentence must be fine. How do you know?

Our guideline clearly states "Proofreading questions ("Is this correct?", "Are there any mistakes?") or critique requests are off-topic unless a specific source of concern in the text is clearly identified."

You didn't specify any source of concern.

BTW, what on earth do you want to mean using the sentence? How come "more difficult" and "nobler" could be placed side-by-side? If the original sentence comes from an essay written in Japanese, don't you think it should be checked whether the translated sentence makes any sense at all?

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .