Username
jayles the unwise
Member Since
September 16, 2013
Total number of comments
6
Total number of votes received
6
Bio
Latest Comments
What does “Curb your dog” mean?
- March 18, 2014, 10:04pm
"kerbing and channelling" with a 'k' seems to be the norm, although I couldn't see whether this is used in the USA
“Over-simplistic”
- September 24, 2013, 4:07pm
More like hypertautological or just plain hypersuperfluous.
“Over-simplistic”
- September 24, 2013, 2:22pm
In my view, over-redundancy is an issue of style, not grammar.
He and I, me and him
- September 17, 2013, 3:02am
"I was taught that my use of grammar was either 'correct' or 'incorrect.' "
Looking back, it seems that quite a number of things we were taught were 'right' at the time, but were perhaps more a product of the prevaiing culture. These days the approach to English grammar is more descriptive - this is how things are - and less rule-bound; language changes remarkably fast, with each new generation and so we need a more yielding approach. The fact is 'can' is widely used for both ability and permission now, and 'may' for possiblity and (more formally) for permission. If one would like it to be different then all we need to do is persuade the other billion or so English speakers to stick to our rules.
He and I, me and him
- September 16, 2013, 8:37pm
Much of this hinges on time and place: decades ago I worked in a large formal organization and some letters to customers ended with :
"I have the honour to remain your humble and obedient servant"
which I would never use today even to Mrs Windsor.
I believe diplomatic circles may still use an opening like:
"The Ambassador wishes to avail himself of the opportunity to convey his good offices...."
What is "right" means what fits the situation.
A New Correlative Conjunction?
@WW Just a bit more on SV[OPT}: I actually picked it up from my boss at IH in Europe sometime last century, but I can't recall using it in Europe; maybe it isn't needed there. However working at IH with SE Asian students I rediscovered it: most Koreans already know SVO from school anyway so it makes sense to build on it as a platform, so that we can discuss "i every day go to supermarket" and so forth.
I can't recall teaching anyone from North Korea, Mongolia, sub-Saharan Africa (other than Mali) or Turkmenistan, Bhutan or Kirghizstan but I thnk I've done the rest. (Apart from English-spaking). So I need something that works across cultures and tongues.