Self-referential sentences
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These sentences are self-referential. Those that are phrased as humorous self-contradictory rules are sometimes called fumblerules--a rule of language or linguistic style, humorously written in such a way that it breaks the rule. A related phenomenon is autological words that describe themselves, e.g., 'pentasyllabic' is a five-syllable word.
Examples from From the Casey Stengle School of Brooklynese
- Just between you and I, case is important.
- Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
- Don't use no double negatives.
- A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with. (or as Sir Winston Churchill once said; "This is the type of nonsense up with I will not put!").
- It is always good practice to never split infinitives.
- About sentence fragments.
- Don't write a run-on sentence you have to punctuate it.
- When one is writing, it is important to maintain your point of view.
- Proofread your work. Do not tolerat mispellings!
- Watch out for irregular verbs which have croped into the language.
- Don't say the same thing more than once. It's redundant and repetitious.
- If the writer is considerate of the reader, he won't have a problem with ambiguous sentences.
- This sentence no verb.
- You should be aware of the conditional mood if you was to use it.
- The smothering of verbs is a cause of the weakening of the sentence impact.
- Avoid the utilization of enlarged words when shortened ones will do.
- Perform a functional iterative analysis on your work to root out third generation transitional buzz words.
- Make sure you hyp-henate properly.
- Sentences should be written in the active voice when giving instructions, so that the subject of the action can be identified clearly.
- Avoid the use of dyed-in-the-wool cliches.
- The defacto use of foreign phrases vis-a-vis plain English in your written tete-a-tetes makes the sentence harder to understand.
- Continuity of thought, logical development and smooth transitions are important.
- Never leave the reader guessing.
- Beware of malapropisms. They are a communist submersive plot.
- Join clauses good like a conjunction should.
- Each pronoun should agree with their antecedent.
- It has come to our considered attention that in a large majority of cases, far too many people use a great deal more words than is absolutely necessary when engaged in the practice of writing sentences.
- Be careful of dangling participles writing a paper.
More examples.
- Never use no double negatives.
- Eschew obfuscation.
- Prepositions are not words to end a sentence with.
- Avoid clichés like the plague.
- The passive voice should never be employed.
- You should not use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
- It is bad to carelessly split infinitives.
- No sentence fragments.
- Parentheses are (almost always) unnecessary.
- English is the crème de la crème of all languages.
- Don't listen to any advice.
Some more examples.[1]
- Disobey this command
- What is a question that mentions the word “umbrella” for no apparent reason?
- I am jealous of the first word of this sentence.
- What if there were no hypothetical questions?
- This sentence is a !!! premature punctuator
- This is not a complete. Sentence. This either.
- because I didn’t think of a good beginning for it.
- This sentence refers to all sentences that do not refer to themselves.
- Be more or less specific.
- As long as you are not reading me, the fourth word of this sentence has no referent.
- Thit sentence is not self-referential because “thit” is not a word.
- I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure.
- If you think this sentence is confusing, just change one pig.
- The whole point of this sentence is to make clear what the whole point of this sentence is.
- (A bad pick-up line): If I were to ask you for sex, would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?
A more complete list of fumblerules from the New York Times.[2]
- Avoid run‐on sentences they are hard to read.
- Don't use no double negatives.
- Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't.
- Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed.
- Do not put statements in the negative form.
- Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
- No sentence fragments.
- Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
- Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
- If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
- A writer must not shift your point of view.
- Eschew dialect, irregardless.
- And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
- Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
- Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
- Hyphenate between syllables and avoid un‐necessary hyphens.
- Write all adverbial forms correct.
- Don't use contractions in formal writing.
- Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
- It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
- If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
- Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.
- Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
- Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
- Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
- Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
- If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
- Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
- Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
- Always pick on the correct idiom.
- “Avoid overuse of ‘quotation “marks.” ’ ”
- The adverb always follows the verb.
- Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives.