Tag Archives: Evelyn Waugh

Loneliness (Iliad Book IX)

January 24, 2023 – 7:50 am

I could have called this post “Democracy versus Autocracy.”

Four pigeons on a street face away from one another. The body of a cat on all fours is directed at them, but the cat’s head is turned away
Four pigeons and a cat
Tarabya Bayır Caddesi / Yücelevler Sokağı
(We live in the development behind the retaining wall)
Tarabya, Sarıyer, Istanbul
Wednesday morning, January 4, 2023

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By David Pierce | Posted in Homer | Also tagged , | Comments (5)

Mood

March 10, 2020 – 5:53 pm

Executive summary. The English grammatical moods—indicative, imperative, subjunctive—were not understood till the nineteenth century, according to an 1882 doctoral dissertation, On the Use of the Subjunctive Mood in Anglo-Saxon. Considering illustrative passages that happen to be from Plato, Alfred Douglas, Evelyn Waugh, and especially John Donne; looking ultimately at John McWhorter’s 2015 essay, “English is not normal”; I review the subjunctive mood, grammar in general, and my own lack of understanding till I was in college.

Copyright page and table of contents, side by side, of Concise Oxford Dictionary Continue reading →

By David Pierce | Posted in Grammar, Plato, Poetry, Strunk and White | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

The Point of Teaching Mathematics

December 26, 2012 – 12:24 pm

This essay was provoked in part by a New York Times opinion piece by Andew Hacker (July 28, 2012) called “Is Algebra Necessary?” (the suggested answer being No):

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By David Pierce | Posted in Education, Mathematics, Philosophy of Mathematics | Also tagged , , , | Comments (3)