A point of grammar
Dec 15, 2019 07:01:55 #
I've got to complain to someone, so Hogs, you're they.
I'm old, which means my education often involved more memory and repetition and less of the thinking and problem solving kids are exposed at present. So, when sports announcers especially, and talking heads generally, use poor grammar, it grates. (Did anyone notice that I used "they" in the opening sentence? The verb "to be" requires the nominative case.)
My stepdaugher would call my sniping at poor grammar a "1st world problem." Sometimes she applies the term to me.
Yesterday I heard "very unique" and "totally perfect" broadcast to millions.
Hogs, for those of you who are not aware, unique and perfect cannot be modified to be more than they are. They can be modified to be less, such as almost unique or nearly perfect.
A few more words that signify the ultimate range are: incomparable, matchless, peerless, singly, singular, solely and unequalled.
Wow, do I feel better. You guys are incomparable.
I'm old, which means my education often involved more memory and repetition and less of the thinking and problem solving kids are exposed at present. So, when sports announcers especially, and talking heads generally, use poor grammar, it grates. (Did anyone notice that I used "they" in the opening sentence? The verb "to be" requires the nominative case.)
My stepdaugher would call my sniping at poor grammar a "1st world problem." Sometimes she applies the term to me.
Yesterday I heard "very unique" and "totally perfect" broadcast to millions.
Hogs, for those of you who are not aware, unique and perfect cannot be modified to be more than they are. They can be modified to be less, such as almost unique or nearly perfect.
A few more words that signify the ultimate range are: incomparable, matchless, peerless, singly, singular, solely and unequalled.
Wow, do I feel better. You guys are incomparable.
Dec 15, 2019 07:16:28 #
Even the BBC is slipping. Place names change in delivery and readers often read without comma's. Comma's are useful in the spoken World as well as the written because they not only change the sentence, they give the brain the time to comprehend what the speaker is saying.
I now know why my English Teacher used to try to pull out what was left of his hair.
I now know why my English Teacher used to try to pull out what was left of his hair.
Dec 15, 2019 07:20:42 #
I sub taught as fill-in temp for an English teacher... and discussed the word police and how they are necessary so that generations can communicate and that so that we can read a 200 y old manuscript like ["like" or is it "such as"]the now out of vogue American Constitution now considered to be filled with meaningless words.
I grew up in a time when radio announcers were "midwestern perfect" ... Now as with music being great if a guitar is smashed vs skilled playing ... bad is good. Grammar is much the same way.
"If it was" is now correct vs "If it were"... subjective case? OUCH !
Selection of the right word likened to spices in food... subtle differences have an impact... some words are nutritious some ridiculous.
Now note, I use ... between phrases to suggest that taking time to think is in order.
I grew up in a time when radio announcers were "midwestern perfect" ... Now as with music being great if a guitar is smashed vs skilled playing ... bad is good. Grammar is much the same way.
"If it was" is now correct vs "If it were"... subjective case? OUCH !
Selection of the right word likened to spices in food... subtle differences have an impact... some words are nutritious some ridiculous.
Now note, I use ... between phrases to suggest that taking time to think is in order.
Dec 15, 2019 07:32:50 #
Old School = The Only School.
Sports announcers, in particular, take pride in being unaware of grammar and teh existence of polysyllabic words. They think it makes them seem more "athletic and/or country. That's an insult to Athletes and Country.
Rant concurred.
C
Sports announcers, in particular, take pride in being unaware of grammar and teh existence of polysyllabic words. They think it makes them seem more "athletic and/or country. That's an insult to Athletes and Country.
Rant concurred.
C
Dec 15, 2019 07:41:14 #
dpullum wrote:
I sub taught as fill-in temp for an English teache... (show quote)
Yes, it would appear that except for Lawyers (solicitors depending on country of origin) are the sole surviving practitioners of diction allowing for the King's English & Latin formalities..........I love these dots a lot more as do many in this arena and for all the right reasons. Sometimes Less is More and to the point.
P.S. I flunked college English 101.......hahahaa
Dec 15, 2019 07:43:01 #
Dec 15, 2019 07:46:43 #
Lo, these many years ago, a college instructor described a binary "yes or no" situation as not be like "just being a little bit pregnant." You are either pregnant, or you are not. But my classmates were confused with the statement. In their minds pregnancy was on a sliding scale. Just conceived was 'a little bit pregnant,' with the awkward walking of the later stages being 'very much pregnant.' In the same way, just 'unique' could be a new species of butterfly discovered to be distinct from similar butterflies. But 'very unique' might mean it has standout characteristics that might make your average lepidopterist drop his net. Maybe with metallic-looking wings, or with antenae with glowing orbs on their ends. Similarly 'totally perfect' would stop you in your tracks as you gape at its flawlessness. Think Dudley Moore seeing Bo Derek coming out of the waves in the movie '10'. It is not so much messing with the meaning of the word as acquiring a new technique for describing a degree of some aspect of it.
Dec 15, 2019 07:47:54 #
Seeing how often there are typos on the chyrons (the banner beneath the picture on the TV news) or in the graphics behind the talking head makes me wonder how much lower the level of edumacation the current crop of producers and - if they exist any longer - proofreaders have received.
Hey, maybe that's why college needs to be free, because that's what it is worth nowadays...
Hey, maybe that's why college needs to be free, because that's what it is worth nowadays...
Dec 15, 2019 07:53:21 #
DaveC
Loc: Illinois
The dots you (and I) love are called ellipsis. There are rules for the number and spacing of them. (Which I discovered when I was once corrected.)
Dec 15, 2019 08:03:19 #
The misspelling of words is something that grates on my nerves too. I see really inspirational messages posted on FB with a misspelled word. Kind of lessens the proposed life lesson. Guess I should learn to “like” the message and figuratively shoot the messenger.
Dec 15, 2019 08:24:19 #
Dec 15, 2019 08:24:55 #
Punctuation marks do not have any effect (or is it affect) to the meaning of the sentence to most people. As to the reporters, they are reading from the idiot board. Most of them are young and do not have the education or intelligence to realize that they are making themselves look stupid. I live in the Phoenix area and do not know if we are better or worse than the rest of the world. When the same misspelt word has scrolled across the screen every 10 minutes for a 3 hour morning news broadcast i think that newsreaders, editors and everyone associated with the show are not looking at what they are broadcasting. I guess we are a bunch of old farts and need to get a life
Dec 15, 2019 08:25:43 #
Not only misspelling words. How about using the wrong word aka: their, they're, there; two, to, too; etc. It's like they're not teaching grammar in school anymore.
Dec 15, 2019 08:28:22 #
Blair Shaw Jr wrote:
... P.S. I flunked college English 101.......hahahaa
I also flunked 101, but it was my spelling... every class demanded and marked off for spelling. Now dyslexics have special dispensation for our curse from god. Altho, that curse forced me to have an expanded vocabulary, if I could not spell weather, whether, weater, I would use climate and not fight spelling. If I could not spell a word two different ways in the same paragraph, then my creativity was not up to par.
Dec 15, 2019 08:31:16 #
OK, I'll vent too. how did we come up with pronouncing coupon as kyoo pon? And the number ONE pronunciation of OFTEN is "offen". The T is silent Nowadays EVERYONE mispronounes it. Why don't we change how we say "hump day"? It should be Wed Nes Day shouldn't it???
And finally, these morons on TV saying things like "between you and "I". Pretty soon stupidity will become acceptable. That's how coo pon is becoming kyoo pon. Let's all succumb to the idiots. LOL
And finally, these morons on TV saying things like "between you and "I". Pretty soon stupidity will become acceptable. That's how coo pon is becoming kyoo pon. Let's all succumb to the idiots. LOL
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