It depends on whether you want to appear literate or not

[EvilEmpryss]

EE - I think "was walking" is in Past Perfect Progressive. Again, I am not 100% certain.

No, past perfect progressive uses "had been", so it's not that.

Now simple past progressive is used when describing two events in the past, one of which happens as the other occurs, but usually only when used in the same sentence as the other action: "X was happening when Y occurred."

If the first sentence is supposed to be past perfect progressive, then the sentence is incomplete and therefor an error. The correct sentence would read something like: "One dark night a man was following a dark path when he heard someone call for help."

[Cat Herder]

I was a professional grammar cop once. I edited customer satisfaction reports.

I try to carefully avoid splitting infinitives, and ending a sentence with a preposition is something that I won't stand for.

[Chromatix]

I see what you did there.

"This is the sort of language up with which I will not put." -- Winston Churchill

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I try to carefully avoid splitting infinitives, and ending a sentence with a preposition is something that I won't stand for.

Do you also avoid using big words, when you can utilize a diminutive word instead?

[Shironu-Akaineko]

A coworker asked me to correct a piece a week ago.

I knew I was in trouble when it started with "Ladies and gentleman".

Oi.

After SEVERAL corrections, half of which referring to my female coworker as "him" or "his" and one even calling her "shady", I gave back pretty much a blackened paper. She thanked me and laughed.

Fun fact 1 : The piece was her introductory letter to a VERY IMPORTANT group of people in charge of an amazing opportunity for her career.

Fun fact 2 : It was written by her referral, her COLLEGE ENGLISH TEACHER.

Fun fact 3 : The man is an ANGLOPHONE(Y).

Fun fact 4 : I'm a Francophone.

[wolfie]

Ah yes, the joys of prescriptive grammar vs descriptive grammar. The first grammarians were Latin trained monks, so they prescribed Latin grammar rules, since an infinitive in Latin is just one word, conservative English grammar still forbids the split infinitive.

I guess that means that strict grammarians are NOT fans of Star Trek.

Drove past a truck repair shop today... They specialize in "axel" work. I guess they're for the icefisherpeople.

Maybe a former Dean of Applied Science from U.B.C. works there.