I am the first poster. Bow before me.

"The Wall Street Journal has this article about the extremely high demand from employees for and the equally strong reticence on the part of businesses, including of course large law firms, to give access to corporate email services on the soon to be released Apple iPhone."

==============

This is not a sentence, Merc.

It looks WAY too difficult to type on to be a useful tool.

Also, saying "crackberry" is lame.

Try:

Today, the Wall Street Journal printed this article about the extremely high demand from employees for access to corporate email services on the soon to be released Apple iPhone.

The article also highlights the equally strong reticence on the part of businesses, including of course large law firms, to provide such services to employees.

==============

I hate you Merck.

Sure it is:

Subject: The Wall Street Journal
Verb: has
Predicate: this article, etc.

The etc. is a long description of "this article"

It's not the best sentence in the world. But it's a sentence.

10:13 - we're all impressed. But let's really slam Merckie and point out that the article was published yesterday.

As long as the iPhone is limited to AT&T, forget it. When Verizon offers it, then we can talk.

Here's a question - why can't Lat & Co. write this page's HTML code so that links to stories pop? (I.e., open in another window.) That's pretty standard practice these days, and not difficult to implement.

With the first dependant clause removed, the flaw in the sentence is clear.

========

"The Wall Street Journal has this article about the extremely high demand from employees for ___ to give access to corporate email services on the soon to be released Apple iPhone."

========

Let me correct myself, this is not a sentence that any self-respecting lawyer should ever admit authoring.

great, another day of reading posts bashing merck. Suggestion Merck--just post under Lat's name. We'll just think Lat is having an off day and it'll spare you the humiliation.

Man, I'd like me an iPhone. I'd think that the camera it includes would be a problem for law-talking people, though -- isn't it hard to get into a courthouse with a camera-phone?

NYC to $190k + iPhone!

Bashing Merck is fun, but credit given for a good, topical post (even if it was yesterday's news).

My firm is just finally starting to support blackberry (we had been good only -- treos all around!). So I don't see this happening any time soon. On the upside, the firm is now paying both our voice and our data (i.e., free cell phones for everybody) -- I don't know what NY does, but this is unusual in the midwest.

Agreed that this is not a sentence that any self-respecting lawyer should ever admit authoring, BUT

Parse it this way and it makes sense:

"The Wall Street Journal has this article about the extremely high demand from employees for __ the soon to be released Apple iPhone."

You removed only part of that dependent clause.

No self-respecting lawyer should use "author" as a verb. HTH.

That isn't the way he meant it. Ding.

Also, which firms pay for both voice and data service?

10:21 -- kindred spirit. I wish somebody, ANYBODY would make a crackberry without a phone. I'm tired of not being able to bring it on courthouse trips, and then getting stuck for 45 minutes waiting for a status conference.

"without a phone"? Jesus. I mean without a camera. Guess I'd better start drinking again to knock off this hangover.

while the iphone looks cool, i'd still rather have a "crackberry" .

i'm assuming the the touch screen will be difficult to type on. have you ever used a touch screen anywhere and not hit it as hard as you can with your index finger in an attempt to get it to work?

10:19,
If you're going to be a prick about grammar, at least learn how to spell "dependent."

Agreed that this is not a sentence that any self-respecting lawyer should ever admit authoring, BUT

Parse it this way and it makes sense:

"The Wall Street Journal has this article about the extremely high demand from employees for __ the soon to be released Apple iPhone."

You removed only part of that dependent clause.

Posted by: Anonymous | June 20, 2007 10:25 AM
==========

Well, I like the effort to protect Merk, whose very existence offends me, but your analysis is fatally flawed.

By editing the sentence as you did, you alter its meaning substantially and belie the focus of the WSJ article.

To wit, the article is not about general consumer interest in “the soon to be released Apple iPhone.”

Rather, as is made clear in the 2nd sentence, the article is about various law firms “being besieged by inquiries from employees wondering whether the office's email system can be used with the device.”

Merck must go.

I can't believe, given the option to talk about super-sweet cutting edge technology, you people are pedanticly arguing over grammar. LAME.

It especially isn't the type of sentence any self-respecting lawyer should use when that lawyer is solely in the business of providing "research and writing services for the legal community." http://www.mercklaw.com/

right click --> open in new tab/window

much easier for you to do that than it is for me to copy the link to the clipboard and paste it in the address bar if i dont want multiple browser instances running at the same time

People (who aren't Supreme Court justices) who use the phrase "To wit" in ATL blog posts, must go.

pedantically

if you can't spell big words, don't use them

otherwise, you make me want to throw up...or throw up again after having done so on account of "super-sweet"

10:37 - I am dazzled by your apropos hyphenation of "super-sweet". Excellent work, your partners must be incredibly proud of your briefs.

10:37 here.

See, I don't care about the grammar. Is the whole frigging point. But thanks for pointing out that I don't take the time to spellcheck my comments on an anonymous legal blog. I'm so embaresched!

10:19,
If you're going to be a prick about grammar, at least learn how to spell "dependent."

Posted by: Anon | June 20, 2007 10:34 AM
=========

Are you aware of some alternative spelling, 10:34?

Main Entry: de·pen·dent
Pronunciation: di-'pen-d&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English dependant, from Anglo-French, present participle of dependre
1 : hanging down
2 a : determined or conditioned by another : CONTINGENT b (1) : relying on another for support (2) : affected with a drug dependence c : subject to another's jurisdiction d : SUBORDINATE 3a
3 a : not mathematically or statistically independent b : EQUIVALENT 6a
- de·pen·dent·ly adverb

http://onelook.com/?w=dependent&ls=a

God, I am outaherr. I am so embarrassed to be reading this post right now. If you want to get into proofreading fights, go sit in a partner's office and bill the hours at least. Me, I'm going to wait in line for an iPhone, courtroom camera rules be damned!

"...you people are pedanticly arguing over grammar" = split infinitive.

Grammar and spelling arguments in the comments to an article on the iPhone on a law blog. My friends, we have nerd/asshole critical mass.

10:47,
If you read the comment to which I was responding, you'll see that 10:19 misspelled the word as "dependant [sic]."

I wonder if the iPhone comes with a dictionary widget?

The analysis is not flawed at all. I responded to the suggestion that it was not a sentence. Parsed correctly it is, indeed, a sentence.
Whether that sentence conveys Merck's idea is beside the point of my analysis.

Strunk:

I'm sure the OP was attempting hyperbaton. Perhaps he is a poet.

wgwag -- white girls with asshole grammarians

Girls, girls, can't we all just get along? I mean, the iPhone is going to be a-maaaaaaay-zing.

did you see that commercial where the dude is reading the NYT, and the screen automatically adjusts to fit portions of the website? does the phone sense those sections automatically focus or do you think there have to be markers in the website's code telling the iphone where to look?

10:50,
"There is precedent from the fourteenth century down for interposing an adverb between to and the infinitive it governs, but the construction should be avoided unless the writer wishes to place unusual stress on the adverb."
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style 58 (4th Ed. 2000.). So to the extent that the writer wished to place emphasis on "pedanticly [sic]," Strunk would not criticize that usage.

10:50,
"There is precedent from the fourteenth century down for interposing an adverb between to and the infinitive it governs, but the construction should be avoided unless the writer wishes to place unusual stress on the adverb."
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style 58 (4th Ed. 2000.). So to the extent that the writer wished to place emphasis on "pedanticly [sic]," Strunk would not criticize that usage.

Ok. someone used [sic] in a comment. I'm spent.

10:50, where's the infinitive? (Not that I agree with the anti-split infinitive crowd, but I can at least identify infinitives.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive

"are arguing" is the infinitive. "pedanticly" split it.

That sentence is void for fatal ambiguity.

Now, NYC to 190 + iPhone

White Girls With Asian Guys

And shut the fuck up for god's sakes

Oh, man, you guys pissed off the WGWAG guy.

Oh, man, you guys pissed off the WGWAG guy.

"are arguing" is a gerund; infinitives are to + verb. Here's a flash quiz you can use to learn the difference:
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz97mkm.htm

BS. IT literally has to flip one switch and turn on Exchange IMAP and every iPhone will be able to access it. Do it over SSL if they are worried about security.

http://daringfireball.net/2007/06/exchange_exchange

Not that it will be all that great to type on without a keyboard.

This may be the most annoying comment thread ever.

Is it true that reading this website actually causes testicular shrinking?

À propos the grammatical/spelling bitching, I'll be very happy if the iPhone has a spell-check feature. The lack of a spell-check on crackberries is very distressing to me. I have nightmares about misspelling words in client correspondence.

This is all Merck's fault.

He should be forced into a cooling bowl of jello and served to 4th graders everyday for six months.

MMMEEERRRRRCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!

Dude, for real. No more accents on letters in the comments. I don't care if you cut and pasted it from word or used magic dust or whatever. No more accents or I'm beating somebody up.

Guess who's back?

MOST. ANNOYING. COMMENTS. EVER.

"are arguing" is an infinitive?! way wrong.

it's not a gerund, either. In that usage, "arguing" is a present participle.

Arguing is fun. - gerund (noun)

We are arguing. - participle (adjective)

OK, 11:17, just for that, I'm bringing out the big guns: henceforth, "coordinate" will be spelled "coördinate".

KHHHHAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

-Captain Kirk

The Hold Steady are a Brooklyn-based musical group, although four of the five members have lived in Minneapolis and their Twin Cities roots are frequently reflected in the group's lyrics.

Lead guitarist Tad Kubler and frontman Craig Finn (both formerly of the band Lifter Puller) first had the idea to form the Hold Steady when sitting at home watching The Last Waltz . Finn asked Kubler, "Dude, why aren't there any bands like this anymore? Let's do this from now on."

Their first album Almost Killed Me (2004) was a sleeper hit among music critics, later appearing at #31 in the influential Pazz & Jop listing in New York's Village Voice. In May 2005, they were the first rock group to grace the Voice's front page in 15 years. The band was Blender Magazine's 2006 Band of the Year.

The group's second album, Separation Sunday, was released on May 3rd, 2005. The album was a loose concept album following the exploits of Holly (Short for Hallelujah) and her quest to find a balance between Catholicism and Rock and Roll through drugs and an apparent reincarnation.

After Separation Sunday, the band moved from the Frenchkiss Records imprint for their third album to Vagrant Records. Released October 3rd, 2006, Boys and Girls in America (2006) was ranked 8th on Rolling Stone Magazine's Best Albums of 2006 and ranked 1st by the Onion A.V. Club. Pitchfork Media's Scott Plagenhoff writes "[Craig Finn] not only has a commanding, rousing voice but he also says something worth hearing, displaying gifts for both scope and depth that are all too rare in contemporary rock-- indie or mainstream."

The band recorded a modified version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to be used during the seventh-inning stretch at Minnesota Twins home games during the 2007 season.

Members
Franz Nicolay, Keyboardist
Bobby Drake – drums
Craig Finn – guitar, vocals
Tad Kubler – lead guitar
Franz Nicolay – keyboards, accordion, harmonica
Galen Polivka – bass guitar

Albums
Almost Killed Me (2004)
Separation Sunday (2005)
Boys and Girls in America (2006)
Live at Fingerprints (2007)

http://www.theholdsteady.com/

http://scheduletwo.com/video/the_hold_steady/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4812224

lame

Woo-hoo! Return of the Merk!

Portsmouth was a test market for the iPhone, the $90,000 we lack in salary is almost entirely made up for in having an iPhone before all you New York pricks.

Awesome - Hold Steady spam! Now this comment thread officially sucks.

Sixty-ninth!!!

Atlanta to 35K!!!

INCREASE compression now!!!

What up, Portsmouth! iPhone capital of the world!

Okay, I know I missed the boat on the parsing thing, and people have moved on, but I have to point out that no one (who has posted) has parsed the awkward sentence correctly. I think this just reflects poorly on the people who post, as opposed to all readers of this site. In the interested of a complete record, here is the correct parsing:

(The Wall Street Journal has this article about the extremely high demand from employees for)

(and the equally strong reticence on the part of businesses, including of course large law firms, to give access to)

(corporate email services on the soon to be released Apple iPhone.)

I don't know grammar rules, but I can read. In fairness, Merck missed a comma that would have been a helpful signpost.

Nevertheless, Merck must be eaten alive by children.

Today.

Seriosly, these posts are causing shrinkage. Anyone else?

Seriously, these posts are causing shrinkage. Anyone else?

Seriously, these posts are causing shrinkage. Anyone else?

I think this thread has reached the end of its useful life, but just thought I would add that I just got the new Blackberry Curve 8300 and I love it. Its got many of the bells and whistles of the IPhone like music and video player and a camera, but same Blackberry OS and setup. A much better alternative to the IPhone in a business setting I think....

11:39 writes "In the interested [sic] of a complete record...."

It's curious that someone taking others to task for grammatical errors would make such a blatant typo.

Would you ladies please stop with the grammar already. This is a BLOG! In other news, I am amazing.

Ralbylove is to brilliant as ATL is to ascending testicles.

Discuss.

Rule #142: ONLY bring up grammar when putting down the poors and the hip-hop folks.

DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS

11:51, you are pathetic.

I predict the iPhone will be a disappointment for Apple. The iPod was able to fly under the radar for a while and bubble up through popular culture slowly - its cult following took time to develop. The iPhone won't have a "cult following" by virtue of its much-publicized rollout. Also, the phone is ridiculously expensive, it's on a single wireless network, and it doesn't have any physical buttons.

Those who stay on top of the latest electronics might have one, and associates at biglaw will be able to strongarm IT into supporting them - but I just don't see this revolutionizing the wireless market like iPod revolutionized the portable music player market. It won't be New Coke bad, but it won't be anything special, either.

Hey, 10:23, I'm extraordinarily curious -- what firm are you with? My firm just upgraded platforms to Office 2003 on Windows XP, and now refuses to support Treos. Needless to say, this really irks me, especially because none of this was communicated to anyone in the several months leading up to this new platform and I recently renewed for 2 years my data plan at $40/month!

"Bashing Merck is fun, but credit given for a good, topical post (even if it was yesterday's news).

My firm is just finally starting to support blackberry (we had been good only -- treos all around!). So I don't see this happening any time soon. On the upside, the firm is now paying both our voice and our data (i.e., free cell phones for everybody) -- I don't know what NY does, but this is unusual in the midwest."

@11:43-4: Yes.

The main problem with the iPhone is the apparently crappy keyboard, which means if they want to target the same corporate users that use a Blackberry, this feature will single-handedly make the iPhone a non-option.

The other drawbacks cited by others are only temporal, not conceptual: of course, I would expect other carries to offer the iPhone in the future. Sought-after phones usually first come out on the carriers willing to pay the most for that exclusivity, which usually are the same carriers with the worst network trying to compensate for that to generate new lines by offering better hardware (instead of better service). Same goes for the Exchange server synching -- though I'm not a tech, I would expect Apple to try to get the iPhone to be compatible with Blackberry servers, but I don't how/if that can happen, and I certainly wouldn't expect RIM to jump at the notion.

But I go back to the main drawback of this phone, which to me is conceptual (as opposed to temporal): I don't think it will attract mass-market corporate users unless and until it has a real keyboard, but that seems to cut against the very notion of what makes the iPhone supposedly so revolutionary in the first place.

To me, the iPhone is simply an inferior Treo.

1:10 -- Thompson Hine. Going forward will support both Treo and Blackberry.

It's not like typing on a Blackberry keyboard is the greatest thing in the world, either. It's at least conceivable that the iPhone's touchpad won't be any worse.

Hey Ralbylove, suck on my iPhone.

Forget IPhone. BBCurve 8300 is the way to go

Let's not overlook the use of "reticence" as simply a synonym for "reluctance." Wrong, lazy, imprecise and pointless, but all too common nowadays. Hey -- remember when people read books?

The poster by the name of “Ralbylove” is in no way associated with the individual named Ian M. Ralby, but is instead an alias created without the consent of Mr. Ralby.