Poll A question of word usage.

[Urwumpe]

But it is also possible to write "Mein Windows stürzt ab", so it talks about your installation of windows... while discussions about the ownership of software are hard, this way of saying it is pretty common, since you also say "Mein Auto startet nicht.", just like also "Ich habe meinen Bus verpasst" (I missed my bus), though you don't own it, it is yours in terms of association - your required way of transportation.

 

[Ghostrider]

which is why swiss german is not officialy a written language.

It is on Qo'noS probably.

 

[dbeachy1]

As far as pro/anti-drop and one word sentences: English is pro drop with regards to commands (in fact, it enforces* subject dropping in commands), but fairly strictly anti-drop otherwise. But you can still get a verb-only sentence if you make a command out of an intransitive verb (one that can't take an object), e.g. "Stop!"

Yes, that's true. In recent years, however, I have noticed a trend in informal writing to be pro-drop even at the start of normal paragraphs (which never really set right with me -- it just sounds "wrong"). To demonstrate, let's say I'm starting off a new paragraph about my visit to the store today. Here is a grammatically correct sentence:

"I went to the store to buy some milk today. ..."

In recent years, however, I have seen the pro-drop form as well:

"Went to the store to buy some milk today. ..."

Until a few years ago I would only see the latter style in special situations such as when writing a post card and the desire was come across as deliberately affectionate, informal, and brief. For example:

"Having a great time here in Phoenix! Found a great hotel. Rented a Corvette. Saw a HUGE cactus.

See you soon,
Joe."

But over the past few years I've noticed that style of writing in many Internet forum posts and emails as well. Perhaps it's just English "evolving", but it can lead to ambiguity depending on the context, such as across a paragraph break. For example:

"Selene and I were out running errands all week. ...

Went to the store to buy a new TV. ..."

So who went to the store to buy a new TV? Both Selene and I? Just me? Just Selene? Or my great-aunt Ethel? The second sentence does not have a subject and so technically it does not conform to English grammar rules. Perhaps the informal rule is that if no subject exists then the pronoun "I" is always assumed, but TBH it just sounds wrong (and choppy) to me to lead off a normal paragraph with a pro-drop. Maybe it's just a matter of what a person gets "used to" when learning the language.

 

[n122vu]

I personally don't think it sounds right. But that's just me.

I also think there's a potential point of confusion in some circumstances, especially when you have websites/software products that force you to do it by naming their product as such. Like MyYahoo.com for example. If someone called me on the phone and said, "Can you come to my office? I can't get to my Yahoo." Are they saying they can't get to yahoo.com? Are they saying they can't get to their personalized MyYahoo page?

Microsoft has also played a part in this, particularly by naming the icon which points to a user's system My Computer. Example: User to support tech: "I need help! I can't get my computer to come up!" The tech might assume they can't boot their machine, only to find they have removed the My Computer icon from their desktop.

For the most part, it doesn't sound natural to me. I myself would say, "I was going to fly a mission to the moon, but Orbiter keeps crashing saying it can't find a mesh" rather than "...but my Orbiter keeps crashing..." because I know it's my Orbiter installation, not yours, that I'm having issues with, so the 'my' is understood.

If I had tried several times with a fresh install of Orbiter to no avail, I would say "I can't get Orbiter working on this machine," rather than "...can't get my Orbiter..." because, in my mind at that point, it was Orbiter as a whole that wasn't working on that machine...