I'm an English teacher. It's been a long week, so don't get me started :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
I love saving "Data ARE...", but then I also say "The Team ARE...." Is that what you're on about?
I love saving "Data ARE...", but then I also say "The Team ARE...." Is that what you're on about?
Yes, because datum is.
You are wrong with 'the team are'. A team is singular, therefore the team 'is'. Members of the team 'are'.
valmarg
Except that, like "family", "team" is a collective noun and so can be used with either a singular or a plural verb.
Do you pronounce it day-ta or dah-ta? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Except that, like "family", "team" is a collective noun and so can be used with either a singular or a plural verb.
Do you pronounce it day-ta or dah-ta? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
he went missing sounds fine to me, mind you I went missing years agoHere the past participle for "get" is gotten. I have no idea of its origin- could easily be German we're such a mishmash of heritages. And we usually delete the word "have" since it is inferred and would waste one breath of air whilst (that's British) causing more sound pollution.;D
GrannieAnnie - the one that get us here is "gotten". Surely not one of ours we stopped using? Did you get it from the Germans or the Dutch?
Never use one word when ten will do the job just as well!Oh my, last night we sat through a speech by someone who actually believed that saying. It about slowed the retirement party to a screeching halt.
sorry GrannieAnnie - we pick up most things American, but gotten is just so wrong, even our youth of today don't use itI wasn't suggesting you adopt "gotten" in England, only stating what is considered American English. I'd rather our countries kept their own unique ways instead of exporting it. Except for- what's his name, the actor.
he went missing sounds fine to me, mind you I went missing years ago
GrannieAnnie - the one that get us here is "gotten". Surely not one of ours we stopped using?
As dear old Winston Chruchill said 'Two nations divided by a common language' is exactly how the US and UK are. ;D
.....something else we imported to the USA where it's still alive and well AND I WANT IT BACK, please,.....is...
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Oh dear, A_M, I am going to be a real, total absolute and utter pedant here. We do not import to the USA, we export. ;D
yes, we have ill-gotten gains of courseEnlighten me. What precisely has changed fast in England?
another thing - as we are a small country and things change fast, and you are a large one and things change slowly, the idea is that you still have people speaking the language of, or at least, the accent of, Shakespeare - Google-meister suggests they're in the Carolinas. How cool is that?
"fear no more the heat o'the sun,
nor the furious winter's rages.... how's that in a Carolina accent?
Words cannot describe the disappointment I felt when I discovered that the septics pronounce Basil & Oregano correctly... and we're wrong!I'm sorry the skeptics went septic.
.....something else we imported to the USA where it's still alive and well AND I WANT IT BACK, please,.....is......When did the Zee become endangered? Seems to be alive and well here.
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Had you realiz(s)ed that?
My mate'n'me's gotta Save the Zed Society, 'cept that he calls it the "Save the Zee Society"... ;D
Words cannot describe the disappointment I felt when I discovered that the septics pronounce Basil & Oregano correctly... and we're wrong!I'm sorry the skeptics went septic.
A lovely idea- put all skeptics in a tank to bother each other. ;DWords cannot describe the disappointment I felt when I discovered that the septics pronounce Basil & Oregano correctly... and we're wrong!I'm sorry the skeptics went septic.
What would a skeptic tank be useful for though? ;)
My last post was censored! Dick seems to be OK, but not the other word.Since we're not familiar with all those areas, I guess we're not as prejudiced as you against them. Here I'd say people with a southern accent often don't sound too bright, also too sugary, both of course complete, off-course nonsense.
we have a thing here, which of course you do too, that certain accents suggest things about the character of the speaker. London accents are untrustworthy. Scottish accents (but not Glasgow) suggest proffessionalism (they are probably a doctor). Birmingham (Ozzie Osbourne) suggest stupidity - mind you someone from Birmingham said recently that anyone hearing a Brum accent automatically has zero expectations, so that if they can string two words together, they're taken for a genius. A Liverpool accent is a good thing (if you remember the Beatles) and a bad thing otherwise (drug dealers and car thieves). Manchester is the same as Liverpool, minus the beatles and the sense of humour. A west country accent is for yokels - the leader of Britain's failed mission to Mars had a strong West Country accent, so you knew it was going to end in disaster - this man isn't a rocket scientist! He should be driving a tractor!. A Yorkshire accent is probably a good thing though it also suggests bloody-mindedness and a general bolshie attitude. My favourite accent is the Geordie (newcastle) accent. For some reason it makes women sound really sexy, and when a man speaks it, everything he says sound funny (in a good way)
Have I missed offending anyone?
I have no accent by the way (of course)
no i'm not prejudiced. It was meant to be funny, but with just the tiniest grain of truth. I moved to Cornwall when I was about 7, from Liverpool, and they had be doing the readings in the Methodist Chapel, because they thought I sounded posh! If that isn't the funniest thingYes, I took it as humorous. Saying "prejudiced" was a bit too strong but couldn't think of another suitable word...an estrogen deficiency moment. ::)
.....something else we imported to the USA where it's still alive and well AND I WANT IT BACK, please,.....is......When did the Zee become endangered? Seems to be alive and well here.
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My mate'n'me's gotta Save the Zed Society, 'cept that he calls it the "Save the Zee Society"... ;D
Nah, nah, nah, nah, NAH! Valmarg :P...... into the USA....and there I rest my case - and go to sleep, perchance to dream....Just so long as you don't shuffle off your mortal coil A_M ;D ;D
;D Lishka x
Point is........the 'Z' was an import....(ie taken INTO the US by Settlers?).......which we're now casting aside, as without value per se and an inconvenience on a modern keyboard.........?...... ;) ;D
Rt, that will keep me awake all night, was or were?
Rt, that will keep me awake all night, was or were?
With the Internet I feel like our English has gone down the toilet! People write then don't re-read themselves! and they write rubbish as a result!Part of me agrees that there is writing laziness out there. But the larger part of me would rather read people's comments written conversationally (as in "off the top of their heads") and freshly uninhibited.
My pet hates are:
"loose" when they mean "lose"
"He must of done it" instead of "must have" (idem "would of")
its/it's confusion (come on! just get it right!)
their/there/they're confusion (ggrrrrrr)
I think that most of the time it's just laziness, people don't want to think about learning rules anymore.
They called it haitch where I grew up in the North of Scotland... where they still stare at fires and don't trust wheels.:D LOL, Ollie! Wait til I tell my husband that- his grandfather was from there. Can't wait! teehee!
I don't think cleverness has to be a prerequisite to pedantry. I argue whenever possible, and am pretty thick.
Ollie should get 90 points minimum for spelling prerequisite correctly and another 10 for expressing his viewpoint with humility, a rarity on forums.I don't think cleverness has to be a prerequisite to pedantry. I argue whenever possible, and am pretty thick.
I would like to point out that the correct usage is "prerequisite of" or "prerequisite for", not "prerequisite to".
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What's a Gentleman's Prerequisite btw? I've often wondered, and have I got one? Or am I not a Gentleman?
the truth may be that with computers and email we're all writing a lot more, and what sounds OK in speech doesn't look right written down. On the other hand, here's something that will make your blood boil
............ (http://............)
-he'd have got more marks if he'd put an exclamation mark at the end! Priceless
I agree. I was just trying to enter into the pedantic spirit.Ollie should get 90 points minimum for spelling prerequisite correctly and another 10 for expressing his viewpoint with humility, a rarity on forums.I don't think cleverness has to be a prerequisite to pedantry. I argue whenever possible, and am pretty thick.
I would like to point out that the correct usage is "prerequisite of" or "prerequisite for", not "prerequisite to".
i don't understand this word prerequisite.
A requisite is a thing you need to have, and a prerequistite is a thing you need to have before you can have the thing you need to have
doesn't that make a prerequisite another requisite?
Dissemination means having a vasectomy, as any fule kno
still don't know what a Gentleman's Prerequisite is. Is it a euphemism for something, and why isn't there a nice way of saying euphemism?
still don't know what a Gentleman's Prerequisite is. Is it a euphemism for something, and why isn't there a nice way of saying euphemism?
The Modern Gentleman A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice by Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro "A man may possess expensive duds, slick wheels, and a tongue to match, but these are not the prerequisites of a gentleman. A gentleman is defined by how he carries himself in fairways and stormy climes. A student of the classics and a pilot of the new, he recommends sizzling reads, pays his gambling debts, mans the grill, and curbs his dog. Reserved, flamboyant, or likely somewhere in between, a gentleman's charisma is cultivated, not canned. He fosters an infectious comfort in others as they quietly marvel at his manner and his hats, from the erudite bowler to the plucky fedora. Little charms performed thoughtfully ensure that inevitable faux pas are measured against a graceful reputation. He can be trusted with his word and your wife."
OK so who's up for a woman's pre-requisites with or without pedantry ;D
I'm not sure I wish to be a pedantess anymore. ;D
Discontinuous is a synonym for intermittent, and is opposite to continuous, i.e. the driver can expect a hard shoulder that is available 'on and off' that stretch of road. Had Mr. Mellor reached for a thesaurus he would have discovered this.
By paying discontinuous attention to the road, obviously.or by discontinuously paying attention to the road, and intermittently paying attention to their blackberry? ;)
If you're going to start a sentence with 'or', I really think you should follow it with a comma and ,perhaps, capitalize. 8)
The next time you read a novel notice that books these days are often not written in complete sentences which is considered fine because people don't talk in complete sentences, and it helps the story flow more naturally.If you're going to start a sentence with 'or', I really think you should follow it with a comma and ,perhaps, capitalize. 8)
Is it ever acceptable to begin a sentence with the word "Or"? Surely this does not qualify as a sentence?
The next time you read a novel notice that books these days are often not written in complete sentences which is considered fine because people don't talk in complete sentences, and it helps the story flow more naturally.If you're going to start a sentence with 'or', I really think you should follow it with a comma and ,perhaps, capitalize. 8)
Is it ever acceptable to begin a sentence with the word "Or"? Surely this does not qualify as a sentence?
thinking about it as an OCD pedant, there's a real problem with this hard shoulder - since it is made up of sections, it isn't continous, hence can't be discontinuous. Also since these sections aren't touching it isn't contiguous, hence can't be discontiguous. It also isn't disconcatenated, partly because it isn't linked together, and partly because I just made the word up.
So as far as I can think, there is no word that describes the motorway hard shoulder, with or without bits missing
discofever is something else entirely
There should be a word for that involuntary twitch your writing arm gives when you's it true that there isn't an English word for the Back of the Knee? back of the hre doung Sudoku and you think you've got a number and then immediately realise you're wrong
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A word for an involuntary twitch - hows about tic?
valmarg
And to go off at a complete pedantic tangent, how about, when you pay for something that is £x.99p, and the shop assistant says, 'and there's one pence change'.I know the English English is supposed to be more accurate but in this case I believe American English corrected the problem. The plural of penny is pennies, just as the plural of money is monies.
NO!! Pence is the plural of penny, so there is no such coin as the one pence piece. It is a penny, ie and a penny change.
valmarg
the pence thing came about because of decimalisation, when coins stopped having special names. 50 pence, 10 pence, why not 1 pence?
Surely monies is OK? Moneys may be right too, but I'd never say it, I mean write it.
If you look on the coin it says 'one penny'.
The plural of "money" is either "moneys" or "monies"; the plural of "trolley", which can also be spelt "trolly", can be either "trolleys" or "trollies". All these variants are acceptable.
The plural of "money" is either "moneys" or "monies"; the plural of "trolley", which can also be spelt "trolly", can be either "trolleys" or "trollies". All these variants are acceptable.
I agree about money, but I understand that trolleys and trollies have completely different meanings.
Trolleys are what you push round a supermarket. Trollies are knickers, as in 'she'll drop her trollies for anybody'. ;D ;D ;D
valmarg
The plural of "money" is either "moneys" or "monies"; the plural of "trolley", which can also be spelt "trolly", can be either "trolleys" or "trollies". All these variants are acceptable.
I agree about money, but I understand that trolleys and trollies have completely different meanings.
Trolleys are what you push round a supermarket. Trollies are knickers, as in 'she'll drop her trollies for anybody'. ;D ;D ;D
valmarg
Ah the Oxford English dictionary will be wrong then! :o :o
Sorry GrannieAnnie, the plural of money is moneys. The 'change the y into i and add es' rule has wrongly been used. The result would be moneies. ;DAccording to Miriam-Webster both spellings are correct "inflected Form(s):
Another word ending in ey is trolley, the plural of which is trolleys. I you use trollies, I think that's something up North they wear under their kecks. ;D
valmarg