Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 834946 times)

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5375 on: 01 September, 2019, 01:24:05 pm »
It a natural preamble and as such forms a useful part of speech.  Obviously it's redundant in writing, but this sort of thing is an occupational hazard with informal writing styles.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5376 on: 02 September, 2019, 01:02:49 am »
Well, I think I agree with you

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5378 on: 16 September, 2019, 09:33:42 pm »
My 2p on the "so" meme:

I will start a sentence with "So" as a shorter form of "And therefore".  So I wouldn't start a paragraph with it - it acts as a weak conjunction joining the two sentences.

HTH.
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5379 on: 17 September, 2019, 07:07:55 am »
A pub for people who preserve the distinction between plural and singular.
Funnily enough (?) I've just heard Paul Merton survive a related challenge on Just A Minute;
he'd used:
"Innkeepers"
&
"Innkeeper's"
 and thus gained a point for an incorrect challenge.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5380 on: 30 September, 2019, 01:11:56 pm »
Photograph captions in the past tense are horrible, e.g. in the NYT article on Roy Cohn's FBI file.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/nyregion/roy-cohn-fbi-file-trump.html

OK, photographs are always of past events but the caption describes or elucidates what is happening in the picture, so the present tense is appropriate. Past tense is meh: "Roy Cohn questioned a witness in 1954 at a United States Senate hearing." You betcha.

I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5381 on: 30 September, 2019, 01:56:20 pm »
I went to the dentist today, where I was able to read on a display screen that was alternating adverts for very expensive dental procedures and 'interesting' facts;  "The oldest dentures were found in the 3rd century BC"
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5382 on: 07 October, 2019, 08:00:35 am »
Invite used as a noun.
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 #5383 on: 07 October, 2019, 09:01:07 am »
I note that it follows the verb/noun stress differentiation seen in record and other two-syllable verbs that serve as nouns.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5384 on: 19 October, 2019, 09:14:34 am »
Troop/troops/troopers. Graun: '...the public security secretary Alfonso Durazo said that eight troops and one army officer were “held and later liberated”...'.

That must have been one officer and a hell of a lot of troopers.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Guy

  • Retired
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5385 on: 29 October, 2019, 03:25:46 pm »
From a missive about business continuity

Quote from: Directorate of Security & Resilience
...establishments and business units’ are advised to review...

I am particularly impres's'ed with the s'uperfluous' apos'trophe  :facepalm:
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

meddyg

  • 'You'll have had your tea?'
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5386 on: 30 October, 2019, 08:25:12 am »
A magazine for sale in WH Smith titled "Hobby's" !

Guy

  • Retired
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5387 on: 30 October, 2019, 08:27:14 am »
A magazine for sale in WH Smith titled "Hobby's" !

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!11!!  :hand:
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5388 on: 30 October, 2019, 09:36:25 am »
I think it's a conspiracy to give old bugger's apoplexy and save money for the NH'S.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5389 on: 30 October, 2019, 09:16:11 pm »
This one?


It's not about hobbies, it's a catalogue from a company called Hobby.
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

ian

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5390 on: 31 October, 2019, 09:54:57 am »
Seriously, everyone on this thread gets hoisted. It's excellent.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5391 on: 31 October, 2019, 10:01:30 am »
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5392 on: 31 October, 2019, 12:06:02 pm »
Do uk.com domains count as cringeworthy grammar?

meddyg

  • 'You'll have had your tea?'
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5393 on: 01 November, 2019, 08:43:08 am »
This one?


It's not about hobbies, it's a catalogue from a company called Hobby.
Good spot and elucidation - I had to go and hide in the corner of WH Smith in case I was right !

meddyg

  • 'You'll have had your tea?'
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5394 on: 01 November, 2019, 08:46:08 am »
Meanwhile, on BBC World Service, interviewer asks Jeff Goldblum
(apparently he sang at Glastonbury last year)

"so, are you proposing to transition from an acting career to singing?"

Transtion as a verb is very groovy lately; probably borrowed from American English
where verbs are nouns and nouns are verbs....

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5395 on: 02 November, 2019, 06:37:19 pm »
Email from Dominic Grieve this evening...

Quote
Win or lose, this will be the last time I stand for Parliament. And it's becoming increasingly clear that my last election will also be the most important one I've ever ran in.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5396 on: 02 November, 2019, 10:24:39 pm »
Do uk.com domains count as cringeworthy grammar?
Not really. They are perfectly legitimate domains. It's just that they are American.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5397 on: 03 November, 2019, 02:34:04 am »
Email from Dominic Grieve this evening...

Quote
Win or lose, this will be the last time I stand for Parliament. And it's becoming increasingly clear that my last election will also be the most important one I've ever ran in.

I shall report this to my b-i-l, who has been chums with Mr Grieve since they were Penniless Student Oaves together.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5398 on: 03 November, 2019, 12:35:21 pm »
Do uk.com domains count as cringeworthy grammar?
Not really. They are perfectly legitimate domains. It's just that they are American.

I suppose it reflects our status as the 51st state...

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #5399 on: 03 November, 2019, 01:57:45 pm »
Invite used as a noun.

Just checked my 2006 Chambers, and it’s in there as a noun, albeit informal.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)