Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe (Read 839377 times)

border-rider · « **Reply #275 on:** 03 July, 2009, 01:27:26 pm »

Who were in session on the Radcliffe & Maconie show last week

mattc · « **Reply #276 on:** 03 July, 2009, 01:51:07 pm »

Quote from: Thor on 03 July, 2009, 11:22:41 am

Quote from: mattc on 03 July, 2009, 11:16:36 am
Quote from: Jaded on 03 July, 2009, 10:32:00 am
So we've got a choice between ...

Ooh, ooh, there's another one!

I would prefer
"So we have a choice between ... "

Isn't "there's another one" tautological? Since "there's" (there is) is singular? So you could say "There's another."

Fair cop!

Actually the 'got' thing has gotten out of hand. Fine in informal conversation, but I received a document recently with something like:
"Before you start you've got to get ..."
which surely could have been:

" ... you need ... "

Zipperhead · « **Reply #277 on:** 03 July, 2009, 01:54:48 pm »

Quote from: smutchin on 03 July, 2009, 01:25:13 pm

Quote from: drossall on 02 July, 2009, 10:55:09 pm
a Twenty30 would be not so much oxymoron as one-sided match

...or something to do with the Duckworth Lewis method.

d.

I personally prefer the Scaryduckworth Lewis method.

PhilO · « **Reply #278 on:** 03 July, 2009, 03:43:52 pm »

Quote from: mattc on 03 July, 2009, 01:51:07 pm

Actually the 'got' thing has gotten out of hand.

And there's one of my pet-hates: The past tense of 'got' is 'got'

little miss mac · « **Reply #279 on:** 03 July, 2009, 03:46:54 pm »

Quote from: PhilO on 03 July, 2009, 03:43:52 pm

Quote from: mattc on 03 July, 2009, 01:51:07 pm
Actually the 'got' thing has gotten out of hand.

And there's one of my pet-hates: The past tense of 'got' is 'got'

If you take it a bit further back, it's arguably the USians who are correct on this one. "Gotten" is an archaic past participle of "get", and we Brits could be said to have corrupted the language in our dropping of it...

mattc · « **Reply #280 on:** 03 July, 2009, 03:52:44 pm »

Quote from: PhilO on 03 July, 2009, 03:43:52 pm

Quote from: mattc on 03 July, 2009, 01:51:07 pm
Actually the 'got' thing has gotten out of hand.

And there's one of my pet-hates: The past tense of 'got' is 'got'

Sometimes one's posts can be _too_ subtle ...

little miss mac · « **Reply #281 on:** 03 July, 2009, 03:56:18 pm »

Regulator · « **Reply #282 on:** 03 July, 2009, 04:01:33 pm »

Quote from: little miss mac on 03 July, 2009, 03:46:54 pm

Quote from: PhilO on 03 July, 2009, 03:43:52 pm
Quote from: mattc on 03 July, 2009, 01:51:07 pm
Actually the 'got' thing has gotten out of hand.

And there's one of my pet-hates: The past tense of 'got' is 'got'

If you take it a bit further back, it's arguably the USians who are correct on this one. "Gotten" is an archaic past participle of "get", and we Brits could be said to have corrupted the language in our dropping of it...

Not that archaic. It is still present in other words... e.g. forgotten, begotten.

robbo6 · « **Reply #283 on:** 03 July, 2009, 04:05:03 pm »

In some parts of England, "gotten" was not dropped completely.

PhilO · « **Reply #284 on:** 03 July, 2009, 04:16:43 pm »

Ok, ok! I'll get my coat!

(I still find it inexplicably irritating, though!

)

Greenbank · « **Reply #285 on:** 03 July, 2009, 04:56:29 pm »

Reminds me...

Twitter from BBC Sports Reporter Caroline Cheese at Wimbledon...

http://twitter.com/carolinecheese/status/2385954961

Ian H · « **Reply #286 on:** 03 July, 2009, 07:01:13 pm »

Quote from: little miss mac on 03 July, 2009, 03:46:54 pm

If you take it a bit further back, it's arguably the USians who are correct on this one. "Gotten" is an archaic past participle of "get", and we Brits could be said to have corrupted the language in our dropping of it...

Someone complained publicly about the use in this country of the 'americanism' Fall instead of Autumn. But anyone who lives in Dorset will know it's an old English word. These things are often complicated.

drossall · « **Reply #287 on:** 03 July, 2009, 08:23:23 pm »

Quote from: Flying_Monkey on 03 July, 2009, 09:28:44 am

You tried to make an association with something that appears superficially similar but in fact has nothing to do with what we were talking about.

Not an association. Simply an application of the same line of argument to an unrelated area, to see whether it made sense there. If it didn't, there could be a problem with the line of argument.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #288 on:** 04 July, 2009, 04:02:47 pm »

Following on from got/gotten and other common but "irregular" verb patterns, it's interesting (to me at least!) the way my son (5) confuses these. For instance, the past of "shoot" may be "shotten", on the pattern of "forgot, forgotten", but he's unlikely to say "shooted", even though that would seem to be a more obvious "mistake". Neither does he say "shot" until I correct him.

CAMRAMan · « **Reply #289 on:** 05 July, 2009, 08:29:26 pm »

My principally (for the time being) Hungarian-speaking son applies the perfectly sane logic of adding "-ed" to the end of every verb when applying the past tense. Put becomes putted, for example, and see becomes seed. Doesn't exactly make me cringe, but it's deeply ingrained and taking time to correct.

(He also occasionally adds "leg-" to superlatives as well, as in Hungarian, so fastest becomes legfastest)

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #290 on:** 05 July, 2009, 10:47:53 pm »

Dear all, especially newscasters, may and might are not the same. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

PeteB99 · « **Reply #291 on:** 05 August, 2009, 09:00:36 pm »

From todays Email about the companies half year results

'Negative goodwill credit'

AKA a loss

The management bullshitter who came up with that should be shot

rogerzilla · « **Reply #292 on:** 05 August, 2009, 09:04:32 pm »

Quote from: Regulator on 03 July, 2009, 04:01:33 pm

Not that archaic. It is still present in other words... e.g. forgotten, begotten.

And ill-gotten gains.

The American past participles that really grate are "dove" (rather than dived) and "fit" (rather than fitted) - the last one just looks like using the wrong tense:

Those shorts fit me perfectly until I ate too many pies.

drossall · « **Reply #293 on:** 05 August, 2009, 10:49:56 pm »

Oh but surely it would be the bizarre:

"That short fit me perfectly..."

Tourist Tony · « **Reply #294 on:** 06 August, 2009, 03:38:27 am »

The Aussie rising inflection: so many of them go up at the end of their sentences bacause their ancestors went down at the start of theirs....

Basil · « **Reply #295 on:** 06 August, 2009, 07:38:47 am »

Not actually grammar, but

I can't remember which one it is, but one of R4's Today program chaps insists on telling me that it is "Huff past seven".
Don't know why it annoys me, but it does.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #296 on:** 06 August, 2009, 12:43:56 pm »

Little Cudzo uses "wan" as the past tense of "win", which means the past of "fit" is "fat".

PhilO · « **Reply #297 on:** 06 August, 2009, 01:21:00 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 06 August, 2009, 12:43:56 pm

...the past of "fit" is "fat".

Funny - I've found that 'fit' is the past of 'fat'!

***ponders waistline***

Zoidburg · « **Reply #298 on:** 06 August, 2009, 01:29:43 pm »

People who say "o" instead of "zero" to represent the figure 0.

Number.

Not a letter.

Andrij · « **Reply #299 on:** 06 August, 2009, 01:34:40 pm »

Quote from: Zoidburg on 06 August, 2009, 01:29:43 pm

People who say "o" instead of "zero" to represent the figure 0.

Number.

Not a letter.

That will be around 99% of the people in Great Britain.

Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe (Read 839377 times)

border-rider

robbo6

Zoidburg