Below the fold are the first ten hits in Google (currently) for the phrase, "I wish I would have" grammar. We're number one, on the strength of a single post of Paul's.
I think that our victory here is Google's loss. Why in the world would Explananda be the first hit? And why would it beat The Atlantic Monthly in any test of relevance? What Google programmer's decision about ranking algorithms led to that result?
What's also puzzling is that the same search on Yahoo brings up nothing - or at least, I stopped looking after the 12th page of results.
I think I can speak for all of us at Explananda when I say that we take ourselves very seriously. But why would Google take us seriously?
Explananda: Grammar September 13, 2004. Grammar. ... Which of these sounds grammatically correct to you: (1)I wish I would have told mom that I loved her before she moved to Cancun. ... www.explananda.com/archives/000612.html - 13k - Cached - Similar pagesPosted by Chris at November 19, 2004 08:40 PMWord Court - 00.02
... Everywhere I go, I hear people saying "I wish I would have done x ... " instead
of "I ... I wish I had taken an English grammar course more recently than eighth ...
www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/02/002wordcourt.htm - Similar pages1-language.com - Online English Course - Unit 46 Would 2
1-language.com- Online English Courses - Unit 46 Grammar Would 2. ... I wish I
would have more time. Incorrect - I wish I knew the answer. ...
www.1-language.com/englishcourse/unit46_grammar.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pagesThe subjunctive case, Quick-ly resolved 05/23/04
... The bitter truth is that grammar is taught very little today, and thus people speak ...
They said, "I wish I would have" (or would of) "went to the store" and so on ...
www.pressandguide.com/stories/ 052304/opi_20040523023.shtml - 26k - Cached - Similar pagesEpinions.com - Where did my life go?
... I have learned to use better grammar when I write then I had previously ... Well, I wish
I would have know what certain areas of reviews paid before I spent so ...
www.epinions.com/ user-review-7CDE-BEC7461-39C4369A-prod1 - 18k - Cached - Similar pagesThe Vocabula Review - Oddments and Miscellanea
... of faulty grammar, slipshod syntax, or improper punctuation. Use had, not would
have, in a sentence that states or implies a condition. • I wish I would have ...
www.vocabula.com/2004/VRMAY04Oddments.asp - Similar pagesAlicia's Cyber Journal
... I also hope to learn more about grammar and comma usage because that is ... One of the
things I wish I would have done different is spending more time one my poster ...
www.sheboyganfalls.k12.wi.us/ students/hua07/07anschr/cyber%20journal.htm - 9k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pagesbroadband » Forums » Stopping Spam » I wish I would have ...
... hroo772 Member clubs: 2002-04-05 Loc:McLean, VA ·Cox HSI, I wish I would have clicked
on ... Actually I meant the ability to write, spell and use grammar correctly ...
www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8806277;mode=flat - Supplemental Result - Similar pagesGuestbook-Volume 3
... Dear Sir, I am a year 10 student in Mentone Grammar School, Melbourne,
Australia. ... I wish I would have found this sight 6 mos ago. ...
members.aol.com/profchm/rlgstbk3.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages[PDF] Sydney England Eng 509 Lesson Plan Grammar and Mechanics Review ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Weaver, Constance. “Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing.” English Journal.
Nov.1996. ... 13. I wish I would have known that I was marrying into such a ...
www.kcte.org/lesson-plans/msu-eng-509/england.pdf - Similar pages
Google ranks blogs in general disproportionately high. Mainly because of all the blogrolls involved. As far as I can tell, if Google likes your blog, any post from you on a certain subject will make it fairly high up in their ranking.
So yeah Google is broken. Maybe someday they will rewrite their algorithms to specifically deemphasize blogs. Though I doubt it. But are we going to complain too much?
Posted by: Andrew at November 19, 2004 10:06 PMgoogle ranks blogs high because of the way we link to each other--using phrases from a post as a link. google's algorithm uses the words in the link to weigh the relevance of a search result. that's how google bombs work.
(did that make any sense to anyone else?)
Posted by: upyernoz at November 20, 2004 09:23 AMSure, sure. But if I were google I would have altered the algorithm to deemphsize blogs by now. After all, I'm a frickin' no-nothing blowhard. I doubt very many people coming in from Google to this site ever found what they were looking for.
Posted by: Chris at November 20, 2004 10:02 AMYes, you certainly are a *know*-nothing blowhard.
Posted by: Brad at November 20, 2004 11:39 AMI don't know how google could know a site is a blog.
Posted by: Ink at November 22, 2004 10:56 AMWell, cutting out sites that use blogging software would give a good first rough approximation. But yeah, I can see that there might be problems.
Posted by: Chris at November 22, 2004 11:10 AMEven identifying blogging software would be difficult in many cases. Identifying clusters of references might be one approach.
I don't expect anyone's at all interested, but here's how all the search engine ranking stuff works: http://spider-food.net/.
Posted by: Ink at November 22, 2004 02:43 PM