Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 835125 times)

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5650 on: 26 May, 2020, 10:02:55 pm »
I've been editing a document about alleged fraud in an Irish bank. The Irish police are called the Garda or informally the Guards. This document referred to them as the Guardia, which made I  :D.
...

Did they perhaps mean Gardaí?
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5651 on: 27 May, 2020, 12:44:50 am »

RichForrest

  • T'is I, Silverback.
    • Ramblings of a silverback cyclist
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5652 on: 27 May, 2020, 05:26:01 am »
Sign on the M6 "Corley services is still open"  :-\

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5653 on: 27 May, 2020, 08:49:46 am »
Funny thing is that if they left out the verb it would be acceptable.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Davef

Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5654 on: 27 May, 2020, 09:43:06 am »
As “Corley services” is the name of the particular motorway services area, singular is probably correct. Even if it just said “services”, as an abbreviation of “motorway services area” singular would be correct, though it jars like “Solomon Islands is covid free”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5655 on: 27 May, 2020, 09:56:34 am »
I've been editing a document about alleged fraud in an Irish bank. The Irish police are called the Garda or informally the Guards. This document referred to them as the Guardia, which made I  :D.
...

Did they perhaps mean Gardaí?
That's what they meant but what they wrote was closer to the parasitic disease Helly mentions. Which might have been amusing if it had been intentional, but it wasn't.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5656 on: 27 May, 2020, 05:33:48 pm »
As “Corley services” is the name of the particular motorway services area, singular is probably correct. Even if it just said “services”, as an abbreviation of “motorway services area” singular would be correct, though it jars like “Solomon Islands is covid free”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
On similar lines, today I read of "a premise" meaning a building.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5657 on: 27 May, 2020, 06:44:21 pm »
Firstly, we'd have to find that thread! The Garda one is obviously spelling, I'd say "services is" and "a premise" are both grammar. But then if we were to be pedantic about thread titles, almost the entire forum would end up here.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5658 on: 28 May, 2020, 09:01:55 am »
As “Corley services” is the name of the particular motorway services area, singular is probably correct. Even if it just said “services”, as an abbreviation of “motorway services area” singular would be correct, though it jars like “Solomon Islands is covid free”
Not sure I see this. The name shows that there are multiple services (which is true - food, shops, petrol, etc.) So they are open.

Davef

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5659 on: 28 May, 2020, 11:08:13 am »
As “Corley services” is the name of the particular motorway services area, singular is probably correct. Even if it just said “services”, as an abbreviation of “motorway services area” singular would be correct, though it jars like “Solomon Islands is covid free”
Not sure I see this. The name shows that there are multiple services (which is true - food, shops, petrol, etc.) So they are open.
Corley services is a motorway service station between junctions 3 and 3A of the M6 motorway in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is close to the village of Corley, with the nearest city being Coventry. A footbridge, made of concrete but now clad in green fibreglass panelling, spans the motorway to link services on both sides.

Corley services are a motorway service station ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5660 on: 28 May, 2020, 01:20:06 pm »
Twenty-seven cows are a herd?

The herd is over there. All twenty-seven of it?

There are different ways of describing the same thing. Sometimes you just choose constructions that don't use more than one way at once. So,"Corley motorway services are between...", or, "Corley motorway service station is between..." removes both the problem and the unnecessary repetition of service/services. The issue arises because the station is a location comprising multiple services.

But whatever, really. It's a sunny day outside ;D

Davef

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5661 on: 28 May, 2020, 02:12:09 pm »
Twenty-seven cows are a herd?

The herd is over there. All twenty-seven of it?

There are different ways of describing the same thing. Sometimes you just choose constructions that don't use more than one way at once. So,"Corley motorway services are between...", or, "Corley motorway service station is between..." removes both the problem and the unnecessary repetition of service/services. The issue arises because the station is a location comprising multiple services.

But whatever, really. It's a sunny day outside ;D
“Corley services” is the name of a particular motorway services station. It is a proper noun. “Solomon Islands” is a country. Burnham Beeches is a nature reserve. Burnham Beeches is closed. The beeches are leafy. Herd is a collective noun and would normally be used in the singular unless you were referring implicitly to the members of the collection. The word “services” in this context on its own is an abbreviation of “motorway services area” and is always plural but singular in construction. If I asked how many services there are on the m6 what would your answer be ? It is clearly ugly and best avoided.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5662 on: 10 June, 2020, 12:05:10 pm »
"Towing the line" has come up here at least once before. So, I correct that: "While I was toeing the line, I was the go-to person..." (an investigation in managerial abuse of authority) and then in the next sentence: "if you're no longer towing the rope in the direction I want to go, then you get dropped."  :D
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5663 on: 11 June, 2020, 06:11:46 pm »
Quote
Three women were left 'embarrassed' after getting stuck in mud at Berrow Beach - despite a warning sign next to wear they had sat.
They aren't the only ones who should be embarrassed.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/three-people-stuck-mud-after-4215079
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5664 on: 11 June, 2020, 08:00:05 pm »
Sign on the M6 "Corley services is still open"  :-\
I thought of you lot when I drove past that self same sign yesterday.

What bothered me more than the grammar was that the sign was positioned after the turn-off point, which seems a bit late to be useful.

That was on the southbound leg of the journey.  Having actually stopped there on the northbound leg, I would also question their definition of “open”.

(Manchester and back, from Kent, to rescue son’s stuff from his student digs. 560 miles inside 13 hours. Fucking tired today...)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5665 on: 13 June, 2020, 04:59:56 pm »
Aah, the Beeb are at it again, apparently hundreds of “mostly white men” gathered in London today.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5666 on: 13 June, 2020, 05:58:25 pm »
Aah, the Beeb are at it again, apparently hundreds of “mostly white men” gathered in London today.
They look mostly pink to me. A similar shade to a cured pork leg, in fact.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5667 on: 13 June, 2020, 06:10:07 pm »
Not so much grammar, but over-use of the word absolutely, in response to a question.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5668 on: 13 June, 2020, 09:21:50 pm »
"Do you always give the temperature in degrees Kelvin?"
"Absolutely."
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5669 on: 13 June, 2020, 09:29:23 pm »
Say after me: the words "wheelbase" and "track" do not mean the same thing.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5670 on: 14 June, 2020, 07:57:22 am »
The good old Graun again:

a) pic of BLACK LIVES M painted on a road, caption called it a mural.
b) headline yesterday(?) spoke of cop who "kneeled" on George Floyd's neck.

I get the impression that they're taking copy straight from the US and Oz and not fixing it before posting.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5671 on: 14 June, 2020, 04:48:30 pm »
I get the impression that they're taking copy straight from the US and Oz and not fixing it before posting.
Quite likely, but also you might be looking at the US/Aus/International edition?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

meddyg

  • 'You'll have had your tea?'
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5672 on: 14 June, 2020, 09:14:09 pm »
What with all these concerns about statuary , the journos first want to know
'Who is being memorialised?'  (probably 'memorialized' come to think of it !)

Perhaps they mean 'commemorated' ?

There was a perfectly good word around if only they could find it!

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5673 on: 15 June, 2020, 08:48:35 am »
-ise often conveys a sense of being transformed into, as in "normalise". There are horror films about people being memorialised in statue form. And I've never understood being "hospitalised". I just want to be treated, not added to the NHS's property stock.

Davef

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5674 on: 15 June, 2020, 09:01:16 am »
Burglarized


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk