Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 835092 times)

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #550 on: 03 December, 2009, 12:55:46 pm »
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clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #551 on: 11 December, 2009, 03:25:03 pm »
Oi!  You're supposed to be selling books and increasing the overall literacy level, not doing this:

Quote from: Waterstones Website
All prices are for online purchases only and may differ to the prices in Waterstone's stores

::-)
Getting there...

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #552 on: 11 December, 2009, 03:30:32 pm »
Oi!  You're supposed to be selling books and increasing the overall literacy level, not doing this:

Quote from: Waterstones Website
All prices are for online purchases only and may differ to the prices in Waterstone's stores

::-)

That's crazy. They'll end up loosing custom.
Quote from: Marbeaux
Have given this a great deal of thought and decided not to contribute to any further Threads for the time being.
POTD. (decade) :thumbsup:

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #553 on: 11 December, 2009, 04:42:43 pm »
Quote from: Waterstones Website

You missed the apostrophe from the company name.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #554 on: 11 December, 2009, 04:49:22 pm »
I noticed that, but left it as was.  I don't care about their apostrophe ;)
Getting there...

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #555 on: 11 December, 2009, 04:53:35 pm »
There is some irony about that given the subject of this thread.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #556 on: 11 December, 2009, 04:58:12 pm »
Exactly my thoughts, which is why my post is the way it is ;)

However, I do expect teh website copy for a major book chian to be better prof-red than my postsings
Getting there...

mattc

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #557 on: 11 December, 2009, 05:02:19 pm »
Quote from: Waterstones Website

You missed the apostrophe from the company name.
The URL doesn't have an apostrophe in. So the website is just plain "Waterstones" !
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #558 on: 11 December, 2009, 05:04:22 pm »
But the text "Waterstones Website" is not a URL.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #559 on: 11 December, 2009, 10:24:17 pm »
Quote from: Waterstones Website

You missed the apostrophe from the company name.
If it was good enough for George Bernard Shaw . . . . 

BTW, I got the highest possible grade in my English language O level despite a firm refusal to use it. I think the examiners realised that total consistency was proof that it was deliberate, & accepted it as valid, as indeed it is.

Quote
Principle 3: the possessive apostrophe is an abomination, hallowed only by usage.
The apostrophe
Furthermore -
Quote
It appears there is some disease in the English mind which tends over the centuries to increase the number of apostrophes. This disease has now reached its crisis, in that it can hardly get any worse.

George Bernard Shaw tried to persuade people not to put in the possessive apostrophe, but this has not caught on. Nevertheless, if in doubt it is better to leave an apostrophe out than to put it in. This is because if you leave it out incorrectly this will be put down either to an oversight or to an affinity with the views of George Bernard Shaw [ed: works for me]. On the other hand, if you put it in incorrectly this will be attributed (rightly) to ignorance.
;D
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

rogerzilla

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #560 on: 11 December, 2009, 10:56:00 pm »
Or everyone thinks you're a German writing English as a second language.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #561 on: 13 December, 2009, 09:16:27 am »
Even a German with only minimal English would know the difference between "there's" and "theirs", but some scriptwriter I had to deal with on Friday confused them.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #562 on: 13 December, 2009, 09:52:19 am »
I noticed that, but left it as was.  I don't care about their apostrophe ;)

Apostrophe's are very readily obtainable: on CD's, DVD's and even from grocer's - but not in pub's on todays special's.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #563 on: 14 December, 2009, 10:50:33 am »
Busses are what you give to someone under the mistletoe.

Buses are on roads.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #564 on: 22 December, 2009, 11:42:07 am »
The fact that the universe is far more limitless than he's been lead to believe.

Far more limitless?  :sick:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #565 on: 22 December, 2009, 11:55:42 am »
I'd hate it to be less limitless :-\
Getting there...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #566 on: 22 December, 2009, 12:02:45 pm »
I'm not sure whether to really consider it sloppy grammar or syntax or vocabulary. It was in speech, but even so... You're just trying to say it's bigger than he ever realised, aren't you?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #567 on: 22 December, 2009, 12:27:54 pm »
(Insert obligatory H2G2 gag here...)
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nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #568 on: 24 December, 2009, 06:01:37 pm »
Xmas - the abbreviation.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #569 on: 24 December, 2009, 06:08:09 pm »
THe Bloody Broad casting Corporation!

Temperatures are neither hot nor cold. Not even "best. They are either low or high.

And, Martha Fecking-Carney, what does "unpassable" mean? That one cannot defecate it, or that a vehicle can't go a long it (as of road)? Try "impassable".
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #570 on: 24 December, 2009, 06:21:01 pm »
o instead of oo and vice versa.

to/lose

Get it right people - it isn't that hard and you've learnt how to use a computer.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #571 on: 24 December, 2009, 06:54:31 pm »
Xmas - the abbreviation.

It's fine, so long as people don't say it. It's a written abbreviation not a spoken one (like e.g.)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #572 on: 24 December, 2009, 08:07:17 pm »
I bought a Belgian bun today in the Co-op. The wrapper said it was a Belgium bun. Supermarket proofreader failure!

Perhaps it was made of Brussels.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #573 on: 24 December, 2009, 08:44:37 pm »
I bought a Belgian bun today in the Co-op. The wrapper said it was a Belgium bun. Supermarket proofreader failure!

Perhaps it was made of Brussels.

Like this?

   Why not try Whitstable's Brussels sprout ice cream?


The bloke who owns the shop is an obnoxious self-publicist and this is clearly yet another publicity stunt, but as a regular customer, I can vouch for the fact that he makes pretty damn good ice cream, so maybe if anyone can pull it off, he can.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

hellymedic

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #574 on: 24 December, 2009, 10:46:10 pm »
From the BBC's news website here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8427671.stm

'The thief is thought to have drove off towards the New Theatre'