Discussion about English grammar

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:30 am

<br>Aah, the good old 'grocer's apostrophe', or should that be 'grocers apostrophe' ?

On a slightly off topic note. A poster in the gents of my local pub advertised a free and easy night of karaoke, stand up comedy etc.. If interested contact 'Mike'. The baiter and childish glee in me kicked in and I just had to pen in his surname. Can you guess what it was? Sorry, but I just couldn't resist. Very Happy

I once asked the barman at another local pub if I could borrow some chalk to correct an apostrophe omission on the menu specials board.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:11 pm

Really Josh? Laughing

I wasn't doing that just to peeve you off, of course.

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

@Tommo Shanter

You are familiar with Mr. Hunt?

--J.D.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:38 pm

Reaper wrote:

apostrophe's, I love those little guy's ...

Ahh, the apostrophe. It's it's use that's important. Wink

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Personally, I feel that the semicolon is the most underutilized, least understood piece of punctuation there is; I am saddened that it doesn't get anywhere near the recognition that it deserves.

I misuse it every chance I get.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:47 pm

TSnerd wrote:

... underutilized ...

Ok, then derutilize it.

Or does un-de-rutilize mean to reverse derutilization, meaning, without the double negative, to rutilize?

Isn't hyphenation great? Very Happy

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

I am boycotting the hyphen for reasons best known to me.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:54 pm

Ahhh, Nerdy is ragged and not justified. Very Happy

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Yeah.

I can't remember the last time I was this fuzzled. Confused

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:51 pm

Grammar? The English language has grammar? Shocked

I bet te nexte theng you're goeing to tell mi iz that it haz spelleeng too.

Plese tell mi this iz just a sic joek... Sad

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:56 pm

Sorry, it ain't no sick joke.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:20 pm

Average Joe: "I don't have anyone to go to the movies with."

Grammar pedant: "You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition."

Average Joe: "I don't have anyone to go to the movies with, asshole."

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:45 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

It's it's use that's important. Wink

Don't you mean "it's its use that's important???" Razz

kleindoofy wrote:

Or does un-de-rutilize mean to reverse derutilization, meaning, without the double negative, to rutilize?

Underutilise simply means under-utilise, utilising it less often than one could. I don't think the "un" part of it is really that important, unless we think that under is the opposite of "der".

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:46 pm

I feel very sorry for anyone learning English as a second language with all its weird and illogical spelling and pronunciation.

"Those present voted to present the present presently"

There are a couple of inadvertant examples in my first sentence too:

Remember learning "i after e, except after c" at school? eg tIEd and concEIt. Well, yes - but not in the word "weird"

To pronOUnce = verb
PronUnciation = noun

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:48 pm

Josh wrote:

... Don't you mean "it's its use that's important???"

Let me put it this way: you found the mistake, but you missed the joke. Razz

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:51 pm

I agree Gnasher. I feel amazingly sorry for anyone trying to learn the English language - there are just so many exceptions to the rules that it must drive them insane.

I never quite got the whole pronounce, pronunce thing. Why the hell can't it just be pronounciation? I suppose it's quite ironic that particular word is pronounced oddly - perhaps it was someone's joke a few hundred years ago?

Quote:

Let me put it this way: you found the mistake, but you missed the joke.

No I see what you mean.

There's a punctuation book called "Eats, Shoots and Leaves". It tells the story of a Panda who comes in to a restaurant for some food, eats the food, shoots off his gun everywhere and then leaves. When someone asks him what the hell was that for he says "I'm a Panda, I read someone that a Panda "eats, shoots and leaves" (instead of eats shoot and leaves). I know it's a silly story but it shows how much punctuation affects the meaning of a sentence.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:55 pm

Zorro wrote:

English is the only truly international language.

Er.. Spanish...French...

P.S.: I can forgive anything except rogue apostrophes.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:07 pm

If you want to learn an 'easy' foreign language then I'd say Spanish is a good choice. The rules of grammar, spelling and pronunciation are (mostly) consistant and logical with few irregularities so you can make fairly quick progress to a point where basic conversation is possible.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:02 pm

I'm OCD on correct writing techniques. I proof read everything twice. I just tweak when I'm not sure on punctuation!

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:09 pm

I can teach you to use the Queens English in one easy lesson...

Ready?

Say Air.

Say Hair.

Say lair.

Now, whilst waving your hand in a circular motion and nodding your head, put the three words together.

See. Now you can speak the Queens English...

(I'll get my coat)

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:09 pm

Josh wrote:

... I feel amazingly sorry for anyone trying to learn the English language ...

I feel sorry for Radden. Laughing

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:38 am

From another thread here:

Quote:

ok this has me thinking right now cause im joine dup on a fourm where i think theres ALOT of UAE members on there... but saying that i no the administrator of the forum threw another forum which was shutdown which its self "due to pretty dumb newbies"was connected to a very well known forum for i forgot the name...

but im sure any possible scammers on that fourm lup an left when one of my topics warning all users on the UAE board about email scammers was very active an got alot of replies...

Arrrgggh.... my eyes my eyes!

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:07 pm

2 much txting mks u 1 bad splr.

-----

"The problem with defending the purity of the English
language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse
whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English
has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new
vocabulary."
-- James D. Nicoll

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:45 pm

@Josh - post something like that in here again, and I will hunt you down and hurt you! Twisted Evil

Oh, the horror!

I'm one of the OCD mob in here. If I didn't stop myself from posting, I'd be a real grammar Nazi! And before anyone takes me to task on it, my French and German are very good, and my Italian, which I started to study comparatively recently, is coming along nicely. I can even communicate in broad Glaswegian, but I fear that would be tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment! Wink

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:10 pm

Glaswegian's a whole entirely different language isn't it? Incomprehensible to outsiders....

Sorry about my earlier post, it wasn't actually something I wrote, but something I found elsewhere in this very forum which pained me so much I just had to mention it.

I'm just waiting for my girlfriend to find this thread.... you think I'm anally retentive about grammar and punctuation? She's studying for a Master's Degree in English!

Discussion about English grammar	View next topic View previous topic