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lallous
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Lebanon
Insane since: May 2001

posted posted 08-02-2003 16:47

Hello,

Mostly when I write emails every new line begins with an "I" such as:

quote:
I am doing this and that...
I was trying to call you too.
I failed to do this....
I am trying to xyz....
I wish you good luck...
I want to ask you xyz.......



argh.... I hate it! I just look at my email and see all these stacked "I" and can't do a thing about them because I don't know how to rephrase my sentence while keeping the meaning..

Help! How can I avoid all these "I"s ?

Hugh
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Dublin, Ireland
Insane since: Jul 2000

posted posted 08-02-2003 16:53

I don't know

Hugh
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Dublin, Ireland
Insane since: Jul 2000

posted posted 08-02-2003 17:01

heh, I do have have similar problems tho. If its at the start of a sentence leave it out, it'll make sense:
-Was eating cheese the other day
-When it rains its good to ...
-Am on the toilet, go away


Dont think you can really the ol' I is pretty important , you could try jumble up the sentence if you know what I mean.
e.g:
:I was driving down the road when I saw a dead animal.
:There was a dead animal on the road when I was driving.

Not much different but less noticable.

Then again I'm crap at English, so just stop talking about yourself.

NoJive
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: The Land of one Headlight on.
Insane since: May 2001

posted posted 08-02-2003 17:34

I am doing this and that...
Have you been doing anything interesting lately? Not much new here...trying to network these 3 computers is driving me nuts...

I was trying to call you too.
You've been trying to call me & vice versa.

Sorry I missed your call
Missed your call... sorry about that.. I'll call later.

I wish you good luck...

good luck.


I want to ask you xyz.......
Been meaning to ask you

If you're writing to a friend there's nothing wrong with being 'casual' at least imo. If english isn't your first language you probably don't feel comfortable writing in a casual manner because that's not the way you were taught. Example: 'I wish you good luck...' correct and proper usage. Simply saying 'goog luck' is also perfectly acceptable because the ' I wish you' part of the phrase is 'implied.' When I write "been meaning to ask you"... you don't need to see or read the "I." The "I" is implied... your brain automatically puts it in. Understand?
(Do you understand?)

(I)Hope that helps. =)

Wes
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Inside THE BOX
Insane since: May 2000

posted posted 08-02-2003 18:41

Try not talking about yourself so much.


DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 08-02-2003 22:41

...self centered bastard.


( )

lallous
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Lebanon
Insane since: May 2001

posted posted 08-02-2003 22:58

hello,

It is not about being self centered or talking about myself so much, .......maybe I am

It is just that when you want to tell a story or an event that happened w/ you as a reply to a simple question as: "what have *you* been doing" you automatically stick the "I" in front of every sentence.

Will try to implement your suggestions and report.

Thanks!
Elias

Xpirex
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Dammed if I know...
Insane since: Mar 2003

posted posted 08-03-2003 05:55

DL-44, ... lol ...

Rinswind 2th
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: Den Haag: The Royal Residence
Insane since: Jul 2000

posted posted 08-03-2003 06:06

Quit answering questions about what you where doing tonight
.....
Quit sending emails.


__________________________________________
"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

DmS
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Sthlm, Sweden
Insane since: Oct 2000

posted posted 08-04-2003 08:40

Well, I can see the problem here, Those of us that doesn't have english as our native language can really get quite annoyed when the auto-correcting "features" of software insists to capitalise I in every occation that it stands for itself.
For example, in swedish we use "i" a lot which translates to "in".

I'll suggest that you check the default language setting in your spellchecker. That did it for me in M$ Word. If you have an english installation default language will be english.
/Dan

{cell 260}
-{ a vibration is a movement that doesn't know which way to go }-

lallous
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Lebanon
Insane since: May 2001

posted posted 08-16-2003 17:58

To celebrate my achievement, I dug this thread again to post this:

The "I" usage dropped to using only two or three "I"s in an average email!
But the usage of "me", "my" is now greater than before!

what about you ?

--
Elias

Wes
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Inside THE BOX
Insane since: May 2000

posted posted 08-16-2003 18:41
quote:
DL-44, ... lol ...


I'm glad you did, because I wanted to mention something.

I made what I perceived as the same joke, but DL got the laugh. Ergh.


lallous
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Lebanon
Insane since: May 2001

posted posted 08-16-2003 18:44

yes, DL was funny!

Wes, did you notice how many "I"s in your last 2 lines post you had ?



--
Regards,
Elias

trib
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Den Haag, Netherlands
Insane since: Sep 2002

posted posted 08-16-2003 22:49

Tryoccasionally substituting the I for a "You" and putting a ? on the end .. like ...

How are you today?
What have you been doing lately?
What do you think about (whatever .. fill in the blank) ?

Now invent a few new ones of your own ...


Bug-free software only exisits in two places
A programmer's mind and a salesman's lips

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