Ms Sparrow sounds crabby

It's a sad thing that nobody wants a "used" cat. I've been asking around to find a home for the patio cat and no one is interested. I even sent an email to Animal Ark, but still haven't had any response.

I was going to say I contacted Animal Ark, but the word "contacted" has such broad meaning today that it's meaningless. One can contact someone by phone, "snail mail", texting, email, courier, relay through another person, and methods I'm probably not even "hip" to.

When I was learning grammar and composition eons ago, you were never to end a sentence with a preposition. But then saner minds determined it made better sense to end with "hip to" than "to which I am hip".

And now they (the Great Grammarians of the Universe) are saying split infinitives aren't all that bad. To tell the truth, I've been pretty much splitting infinitives my whole life, but now I don't have to feel sheepish about it.

And my writing is often criticized for being larded with too many commas. Well, pardon me, but,I was taught that it was proper, when you are writing, to use a comma wherever you would pause when speaking. (No, I don't have asthma.)

I'm also told I use "that" too much. Therefore, I probably should have said,"I was taught it was proper..."

It bothers me to think that my writing
is stodgy, and I worry about it. But I try
to comfort myself with the words of
Emile Coue who said, "Every day in every
way I'm getting better and better."

(I'll just try to hold that thought.)