After a quick search of MA current, I found 5065 occurrences of however. 2909 of these are the most heinous type, the Howevers. You can tell them apart from the others by their capital first letters, signifying that they are at the beginning of the sentence. The article Worf contains 20 such abominations.
In the past, "However" at the beginning of a sentence was a terrible sin. However, it has become more accepted in recent times.
- ... um lets try that again...
In the past, "However" at the beginning of a sentence was a terrible sin. In recent times, however, it has become more accepted.
- ... still could be better...
In the past, "However" at the at the beginning of a sentence was a terrible sin. In recent times, it has become more accepted. The American Heritage Dictionary states: "Forty-two percent of Usage Panelists say they do not follow the rule in their own writing, 19 percent say they observe it only sometimes, and 36 percent say they usually observe it."
There is a greater reason for quashing this terrible habit on Memory Alpha. When it is used here, it breaks apart the voice of the article and makes it obvious that it was pieced together from the thoughts of more than one person. A very bad thing, in my opinion.
Now, I'm not master of the English language, as you might be able to tell from anything I've written including this, but I think that we should make it a policy ban "However"s and discourage the use of the word in general. --Bp 22:05, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- Not to be negative or anything, but good luck! ;) -- Renegade54 22:25, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- "at the at the" -- What does that mean?
- Anyways (is that good?), I think we shouldn't try to "ban" common grammatical mistakes, such as the sin of However, but, rather, try to fix them whenever we come across them in an article (with an minor edit check of course). I know 3000 seems an undaunting task, but who says MA has to be perfect? I bet there's a bunch more grammar mistakes around here that also needs equal attention.--Tim Thomason 23:57, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- Anyway, "anyways" isn't a word Tim. It's "anyway". :) Hee hee. -- Sulfur 00:14, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
- Tim: Yes, of course, this is supposed to be funny. I'm not really saying we should "ban" it by creating a policy page or something like that. I just want to point out how bad this particular "common grammatical mistake" has become, and alert the major "copyedit" editors to it. There is a user who has made >200 edits, where 85% of them have started with However, basically making his whole MA career out of it, although it's more serious than just one user. I think it's crazy that MA can never make a statement about something without then excepting it with a However.... --Bp 17:14, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
- Perhaps of a more 'timely' concern is the use of the word "currently", usually referring to whatever actors or production staff have gone on to pursue. If someone writes "Currently Actor is working on Project X", it quickly becomes dated. -- StAkAr Karnak 04:15, 25 December 2006 (UTC)