General Chat

Pedantic

:-)

I don't know either but would say that was a relative clause.

As a stuck up grammar school madam I did know all about prepositions and nouns and stuff and they have stood me in such good stead in life.

Sharron, this is one of the questions


Tick the option that shows how the underlined words are used in the sentence.

My baby brother was born in the hospital where my father works.( last four words underlined)

" as a preposition phrase
as a relative clause
as a main clause
as a noun phrase"

I haven't a clue! I don't think at 10 I had even heard the words preposition or clause. I just knew how a sentence should be written.

I have had to force myself to write s I speak on here., OH has always said that what comes from pen is very different from what comes out of my mouth.

Did you see or hear any of the English questions from the SATS tests for ten year olds?

I could not answer them and neither did I understand why they needed to be taught to children why are not able to use word correctly.

I have said his before that sloppy use of words and grammar are acceptable in everyday conversation but it makes me very angry to see journalists badly misuse English. It is, after all, the tool of their trade. As you would not expect your pumber to turn up with a plastic spoon and a sticking plaster so you should not expect to buy a newspaper with information that makes no sense.

P.S What time is 12pm?

" We don’t usually use conjunctions to start sentences when we’re writing, but people do when they’re speaking. " learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org

Which begs the question, when posting on here do you write as you speak or as you would write if it were a letter, essay etc? My answer would be that I write as I am thinking so my posts are 'my voice'. This is why I sometimes have to edit several times before pressing send, my voice might have been tempted to say something it shouldn't ;-)

The exception to that is when it is an important topic or debate when I try and make my argument coherent and 'written' rather than 'spoken' if you see what I mean :-D

Yes I know Rollo, but I left it there anyway ;-)

One of my favourite books is 'Lord of the Rings', it is perfect in so many ways, except that ( particularly in TROTK) way too many sentences begin with "And"

:-D

"way too many" is probably also a bridge too far :-)

"Or, and this is creeping so fast...."

Long ago when I was a lad starting a sentence with a conjunction would have been a good way to achieve derision in class or even a dose of cane on the paw. Following a conjunction with a comma would have been a calumny quite beyond the pale.

I often wonder what they do with young civil servants as they are for the most part well educated but lose any faculty to express themselves in English with the passing of years before finally achieving constructions only known to Sir Humprey Appleby and of course Chinese Mandarins.

http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2013/02/05/language-in-depth-what-is-the-meaning-of-meaning/

Sir John Cheke (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar who wrote: -

‘I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges; wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt‘.

Language evolves and to a certain extent I can cope with the change of meaning of words like 'wicked' and 'sick' etc and the misuse or overuse of words, we all do it, it's what makes us individuals. Where would writers be without having characters who have their own 'voice', those quirks that tell you it is a particular character speaking even without the 'Simon said....'.

But I don't think I will ever cope with "should of". Or, and this is creeping so fast into daily speech that I have even fallen into it myself once or twice. " These ones" :-0

PS I have noticed I too often use the word " well" on here, as in "Well I think you should look at freebmd"...it's annoying, sorry ;-)

"Glad it's not only me...shows that our schooling really taught us grammar!!"

Evidently not.

Fantastic... everything is so fantastic it seems these days.

Fantastic sale
Fantastic offer
Fantastic as in how someone looks
Fantastic flavour etc, etc

Those pretentious adverts - 'Inspire the Next', 'Create Amazing' etc... Amazing what? The next what?

Hero/heroic
Iconic
Mandate - everyone seems to have one these days
Agree with Sharron about 'decimated'
National Treasure

Random apostrophes ?

Cd's, Poncho's, Whiskey's and Pizza's


I have seen all of the above in the last few weeks.
On shop signs and on a trendy pub blackboard

Glad it's not only me...shows that our schooling really taught us grammar!!

AMAZING
It must be the most overused word on TV and it drives me nuts.
Talent shows are the worst.
Can nobody think of another adjective?

Scottish vocabulary is even worse
DefinATEly always makes me cringe but, worst of all is... YOUS.

The plural of you is you!

Thank you Sharron ,you said what I have always cringed at...
I was sat...lIf we had said that at school we would have been corrected into saying..I was sitting!

Amazing!

Hopefully.

Decimated when something worse than decimation (dec = 10) has occurred. Decimation is the killing of one in ten.

Obviously obviously.

Nobody was EVER sat at a table, they had sat or were sitting.

Hopefully that coat of paint that is two shades lighter will brighten up this room. No it won't. That paint has no hope, no regrets, no emotion at all, it doesn't care AND shades are Not lighter. tone are lighter, shades darken., baisically.

Now I'm off!!

thought it was good when Donald Trump proclaimed he would be winning "bigly" :-D

I seem to have started something here. :-) :-)

I agree about unique - and expressions like more bigger; more slower etc. and I when it should be me!

OH and I both shout at the TV when things are incorrect - usually in unison. Sad, aren't we? :-)

or, as on Jeremy Kyle - "basically" and ending with "innit"