English grammar murdered on QVC web site

[BenFongTorres]

I was looking again at the product description for item 227939 which inspired this thread and I've noticed another quite remarkable mistake, the item title reads "Elemis tri-enzyme resurfing gel mask". Not bad, is it, managing to pack all of this in just a few lines...:tongue2:

This is obviously for those times when you need to get an extra waxy sheen and glow on your surf board,Gawd do I have to spell everything out for you people?

 

[vampyre]

I wasn't taught grammar at school and feel I missed out on something quite important.
One of my peeves is "a lot" as in abundance are 2 separate words and allot means designate but there is no such word as alot. I also dislike the use of orient instead of orientate. I shouldn't be on any horse higher than a Shetland pony though, I'm a terrible speller.

 

[kitten_with_claws]

I wasn't taught grammar at school and feel I missed out on something quite important.
I shouldn't be on any horse higher than a Shetland pony though, I'm a terrible speller.

What Shetlands lack in height, they make up for in personality & attitude! lol

I was brought up in a very book & language orientated household where grammar & spelling was of the utmost importance & where, even as a small child, I could make an educated guess at the origins of a particular word, i.e. Greek, Latin, Anglo Saxon, (I'm still particularly fond of certain Anglo Saxon ones & use them a lot! lol) & to this day, I'm rather keen on the correctness of it all but........

......having a severely dyslexic child, I know spelling etc. can be very difficult for some people but the thing that really drives me mad is the use of 'go' or 'goes' instead of 'said', (I hate that!), as in:
I goes
He/she goes
You goes
They goes
We go

Arrgghh! :headbang:
Oh & Vampy, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with your spelling or grammar that I've ever noticed! :flower:

 

[BenFongTorres]

I wasn't taught grammar at school and feel I missed out on something quite important.
One of my peeves is "a lot" as in abundance are 2 separate words and allot means designate but there is no such word as alot. I also dislike the use of orient instead of orientate. I shouldn't be on any horse higher than a Shetland pony though, I'm a terrible speller.

I like this turn of phrase very much,lol.

Please note that I used red font especially for you.

 

[sillysausage]

Anotther shocking bad habit that I noticed the other day when I was leafing through a copy of Heat magazine: the idea that somebody has 'split up with' his/her partner... This seems to me a case not just of bad grammar, but of bad logic, since 'splitting' is a verb with a clear meaning of separation wheras 'with' implies togetherness... That's why you go out with somebody and split up fromsomebody... Am I correct?
However, how can we blame the young if printed media feed them such appalling language? If you're young and Heat is all you read...

I must say I am very concerned about the lack of grammatical and syntactical skills on the part my British students. I teach on a post-graduate course with a very international cohort, about 12 different nationalities every year and the worst essays (those in which I actually struggle to grasp the point being made) are often written by the native speakers (not just the British ones though, if this is any consolation:thinking2. I have often wondered why this should be the case, but your posts have given me some sense of where this situation originate from. It's clearly a problem that grammar and syntax aren't properly taught in school, because by the time students get to university with bad grammatical habits and a total lack of awareness of how language works, it's very hard, if not impossible to fix the problem. This is very, very sad, in my opinion...:sad:

 

[vampyre]

I agree that the English language is beautiful and I wish I had the talent of Yolanda or even Ogden Nash to use it to great effect. I'm very grateful my Mother taught me to read at a young age. I'm also grateful to the awful nun who did teach us a few very basic things such as your/you're, apostrophes in general and particularly its/it's.
I wonder when things changed that speaking "well" (I don't mean la-di-da) went from being seen as an advantage to being something that is mocked or worse?

 

[kitten_with_claws]

I'm very grateful my Mother taught me to read at a young age. I'm also grateful to the awful nun who did teach us a few very basic things such as your/you're, apostrophes in general and particularly its/it's.

If you'd like to brush up on or improve your punctuation skills, I'd heartily recommend getting yourself a copy of 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves'; not only is it jolly useful, it's also very funny!
(Notice the randomly chucked in semicolon in the above sentence, just for good measure! lol)

I wonder when things changed that speaking "well" (I don't mean la-di-da) went from being seen as an advantage to being something that is mocked or worse?

When newsreaders (generally) stopped speaking in 'BBC English'? lol

 

[BenFongTorres]

I agree that the English language is beautiful and I wish I had the talent of Yolanda or even Ogden Nash to use it to great effect. I'm very grateful my Mother taught me to read at a young age. I'm also grateful to the awful nun who did teach us a few very basic things such as your/you're, apostrophes in general and particularly its/it's.
I wonder when things changed that speaking "well" (I don't mean la-di-da) went from being seen as an advantage to being something that is mocked or worse?

English is a good and fascinating language.I enjoy a Stephen Frye type of English but I also enjoy a lot of slang,it's just that a lot of people, especially the generation under me don't know when certain things are situation appropriate,that is to say,the way you speak to your friends may not be "the thing" at an interview.

By the way,anyone with better grammatical skills than me,feel free to correct my commas,lol...I know they are a bit haphazard.

 

[sillysausage]

English is a good and fascinating language.I enjoy a Stephen Frye type of English but I also enjoy a lot of slang,it's just that a lot of people, especially the generation under me don't know when certain things are situation appropriate,that is to say,the way you speak to your friends may not be "the thing" at an interview.

By the way,anyone with better grammatical skills than me,feel free to correct my commas,lol...I know they are a bit haphazard.

I agree BFT, the creativity of spoken English is remarkable (certainly Italian doesn't compare on this front, unless you consider regional dialects, but that's another story...). I think things get tragic when people lose the awareness that they are speaking slang as opposed to grammatically correct English because they can't tell that there is a difference between the two...

 

[vampyre]

I have downloaded some books by Lynne Truss including the panda one but am so tired lately I can't concentrate on anything. She deserves every success for being stroppy about language and manners.
Another peeve that I have but my Mother is quite psycho about is "was sat" instead of "was sitting" or "was seated". It seems to be acceptable as it is so commonly used but I hate how it sounds.

 

[watersiren]

Anotther shocking bad habit that I noticed the other day when I was leafing through a copy of Heat magazine: the idea that somebody has 'split up with' his/her partner... This seems to me a case not just of bad grammar, but of bad logic, since 'splitting' is a verb with a clear meaning of separation wheras 'with' implies togetherness... That's why you go out with somebody and split up fromsomebody... Am I correct?
However, how can we blame the young if printed media feed them such appalling language? If you're young and Heat is all you read...

I must say I am very concerned about the lack of grammatical and syntactical skills on the part my British students. I teach on a post-graduate course with a very international cohort, about 12 different nationalities every year and the worst essays (those in which I actually struggle to grasp the point being made) are often written by the native speakers (not just the British ones though, if this is any consolation:thinking2. I have often wondered why this should be the case, but your posts have given me some sense of where this situation originate from. It's clearly a problem that grammar and syntax aren't properly taught in school, because by the time students get to university with bad grammatical habits and a total lack of awareness of how language works, it's very hard, if not impossible to fix the problem. This is very, very sad, in my opinion...:sad:

my experience, too, as a qualified T.E.F.L teacher (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). the level of knowledge of grammar, syntax and language structure of individuals who have English as second language is very profound.

 

[kitten_with_claws]

English is a good and fascinating language.I enjoy a Stephen Frye type of English but I also enjoy a lot of slang,it's just that a lot of people, especially the generation under me don't know when certain things are situation appropriate,that is to say,the way you speak to your friends may not be "the thing" at an interview.

This is very true BFT! In Swedish for example, this problem is avoided as there are two distinct ways of addressing & conversing with people, an informal way for friends & family & a more formal version, reserved for older people, strangers, certain people at work etc.

By the way,anyone with better grammatical skills than me,feel free to correct my commas,lol...I know they are a bit haphazard.

Hurrah for haphazard then; one of the great things about being 'grown up' is that one is free to do all sorts of things one would have been scolded for, or corrected on, as a child! lol
Therefore, if I:
Want to eat with my elbows on the table (at home!) - I can!
If I want to use an ampersand instead of writing 'and' all the time - I do!
If I want to finish a sentence with three exclamation marks & several 'lols' - I will!
(If I want to scoff down an entire tin of cream using my finger as a spoon - I do!!!)

 

[vampyre]

This is very true BFT! In Swedish for example, this problem is avoided as there are two distinct ways of addressing & conversing with people, an informal way for friends & family & a more formal version, reserved for older people, strangers, certain people at work etc.



Hurrah for haphazard then; one of the great things about being 'grown up' is that one is free to do all sorts of things one would have been scolded for, or corrected on, as a child! lol
Therefore, if I:
Want to eat with my elbows on the table (at home!) - I can!
If I want to use an ampersand instead of writing 'and' all the time - I do!
If I want to finish a sentence with three exclamation marks & several 'lols' - I will!
(If I want to scoff down an entire tin of cream using my finger as a spoon - I do!!!)

Also you can swear if you want to and can tell other grown ups that they're rude, unhelpful or just plain wrong. Best of all you can usually refuse to eat or ingest anything you don't want to be it food, drink or medication.

 

[sillysausage]

This is very true BFT! In Swedish for example, this problem is avoided as there are two distinct ways of addressing & conversing with people, an informal way for friends & family & a more formal version, reserved for older people, strangers, certain people at work etc.

Italian works in the same way

 

[BenFongTorres]

This is very true BFT! In Swedish for example, this problem is avoided as there are two distinct ways of addressing & conversing with people, an informal way for friends & family & a more formal version, reserved for older people, strangers, certain people at work etc.



Hurrah for haphazard then; one of the great things about being 'grown up' is that one is free to do all sorts of things one would have been scolded for, or corrected on, as a child! lol
Therefore, if I:
Want to eat with my elbows on the table (at home!) - I can!
If I want to use an ampersand instead of writing 'and' all the time - I do!
If I want to finish a sentence with three exclamation marks & several 'lols' - I will!
(If I want to scoff down an entire tin of cream using my finger as a spoon - I do!!!)

A ha! is that what one of those is called,lol.Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I knew this but i've probably had to edit it out at one point to let more pertinent information in,It can get crowded in there!

 

[Artemis]

Italian works in the same way

...and French, and Greek......

I keep thinking of expressions that make me cringe. On radio 4, they now make a habit if saying "half 3", instead of half past 3, or 3.30. I don't know why some of the announcers do this as one of the reasons I listen is because their language is usually correct.

The one that makes steam come out of my ears is "visit with", as in President Obama visited with his Russian counterpart...":headbang:

 

[jacqualina]

I was an EFL teacher (English as a Foreign Language) for years and our bible was Murphy's Grammar. It's so easy to follow and I have learned so much from it - would highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to brush up/improve their grammar.

 

[fairynuff]

At school I remember a brilliant book called "First Aid in English" (probably out of print now).
It explained rules of grammar, syntax etc and had chapters on similes, collective plurals ("a skein of geese " etc), tenses of verbs, punctuation etc etc.
Anyone else remember this?
Oh and is it common in Scotland to say " should have went" instead of " gone" ? My late Scottish MIL always said that!

 

[kitten_with_claws]

At school I remember a brilliant book called "First Aid in English" (probably out of print now).
It explained rules of grammar, syntax etc and had chapters on similes, collective plurals ("a skein of geese " etc), tenses of verbs, punctuation etc etc.
Anyone else remember this?

I didn't recognise the title, so had to google it but seeing as the Amazon description started off with:

"This little book was used in English Primary Schools during the 1940's and provides a fascinating insight into the way children used to be taught."

......I think it was a bit before my time.......! :grin:

 

[Artemis]

At school I remember a brilliant book called "First Aid in English" (probably out of print now).
It explained rules of grammar, syntax etc and had chapters on similes, collective plurals ("a skein of geese " etc), tenses of verbs, punctuation etc etc.
Anyone else remember this?
Oh and is it common in Scotland to say " should have went" instead of " gone" ? My late Scottish MIL always said that!

I had it until a few years ago, then loaned it to one of my Grandsons who managed to mislay it within a week! *sigh. * We used to have to back all our schoolbooks ourselves and mine was still in it's brown paper jacket with my carefully drawn red cross on the front.I often think I'm good at crosswords because of that book and the knowledge in it, although the rules of grammar still eluded me!
Incidentally, off topic I know, a couple of people on my other forum refused to believe that we used slates for the first 2 years we were at school, but we certainly did. It obviously wasn't country-wide as many of them are my age but paper was in short supply and very carefully rationed.