General Chat

I put 'hopefully' and obviously you basically didn't understand what I was alluding to.

‘Three hundred words suffice the linguistic requirement of unpretentious individuals’.

I just happened to read this statement during a recent dreary three-hour trip to London with a coach-load of talkative school youngsters. When the batteries of general conversation had run down, I dared the group to list 300 English words without the aid of their Ipads, et al.

I listened, enthralled, to their varied suggestions - some words I had long forgotten. Collectively, they managed 255 within one hour with the occasional input from the coach driver. It was an entertaining interlude too.

Barry - :-D :-D :-D :-D

Errol,
I think this thread is mainly about the misuse of Grammar by those who, considering their job, should have a basic grasp of the English language. Newsreaders, politicians, teachers, those who regard themselves as communicators etc.
It is definitely NOT about how people in general, and particularly on this board communicate.
Some of us were brought up with sore knuckles if the verb and adverb were in the wrong place, and it's stuck.


edit: as I was typing, and the fingers are sometimes slower than the brain, I admit to initially writing 'saw' knuckles :-0

Too many persons in the service industry reply 'no problem'.
This drives me nuts!
I much prefer (e.g.) 'You're (very) welcome.'

Since when did 'functionality' need to replace 'function?' This was used for decades.
So many sensible words and grammar sadly going out of the window...

Following in the footsteps of Florence's test, I was given the one below in October 1970.
I have never forgotten it and at greater than 21 I should have known better.
First in the class and I really fluffed it!
A good example to pass on to younger folks in school.

COMMUNICATIONS — TWO M1NUTE TIME TEST

REQUIREMENTS —

1. Read everything before you do anything.

2. Put your name in the upper right-hand corner of the paper.

3. Circle the word ‘name’ in the second sentence.

4. Draw five small squares in the upper left—hand corner of this paper.

5. Put an X in each square mentioned in number 4.

6. Put a circle around each square.

7. Sign your name under the title of this page.

8. After the title write ‘yes, yes, yes’.

9. Put a circle around sentence number 7 and 8.

10. Put an X in the lower left—hand corner of this page.

11. Draw a triangle around the X you have just made.

12. On the back of this page multiply 70 x 30.

13. Draw a circle around the word ‘paper’ in sentence 4.

14. Loudly call out your first name when you get to this point in the test.

15. If you think that you have carefully followed directions, call out .....

“I have carefully followed directions”

16. On the reverse side of this paper add 107 and 278.

17. Put a circle around your answer to this problem.

18. Count out in your normal voice from 1 to 10.

19. Punch 3 small holes in your paper with your pencil here . . .

20. If you are the first person to got this far call out loudly
“I am the leader in following directions...."

21. Now that you have finished reading carefully, do only sentences 1 and 2.

Indeed.

Words are my insanity.

But Dermot, people like the Irish and Welsh and Catalonians ramble on about keeping language alive. Then so surely should the British/genuine English in keeping the English language alive?

'Language should not stand between the writer/speaker & the reader/listener.'

I was absolutely castigated on this site recently for daring to point out the importance of correct grammar and spelling.

There is never any excuse for not using correct basic English if it is taught correctly in the first place.

Some people seem to believe that it is ok to use totally incorrect language.

They are usually the same people that have a total inability to add up also!

The antipodean terminal inflection really annoys me. When my S-in-L uses it, which she does often (and she has never been to Oz or NZ) I often ask if she is telling me, or asking me a question.

For Sure!!

So it is.

ermmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Since living in Ireland I seem to start every sentence with 'Sure......'........

I hear myself saying it and cringe!

So, but, anyway.. ;-)

My favourite times at school, where when we could get the teacher off topic :-D

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Head full of things nobody needs to retain.

Sharron


you possibly also win so often because of the general knowledge aspect of the education we had



I can remember sitting in a class room on a wet lunch hour .................. and for fun, we'd try to name all the US states, longest rivers in the world, etc etc etc


we were not made to do it, there was no teacher in with us ................... we just had fun

We win the quiz at the social club most months but it is not because we are clever.

It is because we put an answer to everything.

The times I have marked an answer paper belonging to another team who have left spaces and then put answers in the wrong place are now too many to remember.

re exams ................


not only were we taught to read all the questions 3 times ..................

and then to jot down notes on what should be in each answer


but also taught to rank the questions in the order that we thought we could best answer


Then we had to answer the second best first, followed by the one we knew best, then the third, fourth, etc


The theory being, of course, that we needed time to settle into writing, and we would probably get better marks by leaving our best question until settled down!



The rules were equally good whether you were writing an English Lit paper or a Biology one.



I followed those instructions all the way through university ...........

....... and, of course, taught them when I was teaching in Cheshire before we married and left the UK.

Today I was giving a group of 8 year olds a maths test. It involved about 20 questions of addition, subtraction and other sums.

My instructions to them as always are:
1. Read through all the questions first.
2. Make sure you understand what is being asked
3.When you have finished, recheck your answers.

When it is an English Language exercise, I ask them to do the following:
1.Read through your work and check your punctuation.
2. Make sure you have used capital letters, full stops and commas where appropriate.
3. Do your sentences make sense when you read them back?

Yes I was taught about grammar, punctuation etc.. from an early age and it stays with you all your life.

One of my pet hates is the pronounciation of some words by news readers including

advertisement-pronounced ad ver tise ment(amercian)
controversy- " " cont tro ver sy (american)
debris - " " de bree

But I really get annoyed at "amen't I" and seemingly instead of apparently.

I think the children think I went to school in the dark ages lol

Florence
in the hebrides



:-)