Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Lesley]

I'm with e e cummings when it comes to grammar (Lesley, he prefers his name to be written in lower case by the way )

 

Oh! - you mean I can't put the capitals in?

 

Nice T shirt Clare - just as well they haven't got one for apostrophes though - my weak point

 

 

 

 

Phi'l

 

Thanks Phil

 

I like all the T shirts - shame about the 'strangler 'necklines though

[Guest]

...- shame about the 'strangler 'necklines though

 

 

oh, I don't know.... I reckon anyone who'd wear one of those deserves a pain in the neck.

 

I love the hyphen one

[Egluntyne]

Here is one for the forum. You can just about make out the aberrant apostrophes.

 

[Guest]

On the subject of the phone numbers although I would write it as 0 I would say it as o.

 

I also spend a lot of time teaching that a phone number is text - numbers are "things you can do sums on" and a phone number is a fixed piece of information. Also numbers can't start with zero therefore when you set up a phone number in a database it is text.

 

Zero is very American to me so my phone number would be o one two three four........

 

Of course there was no Hawaii five zero....

 

I have to admit that I'm not good with the apostrophe, I can't spell for toffee and my sentances are usually littered with exclamation marks!

 

Having said all that one of my biggest bugbears - which I see almost DAILY in coursework is that old chesnut "pacifically"

[Egluntyne]

How about "could of", "would of", "should of" etc.

[Christian]

or lose and loose? What is that so difficult to get right?

 

or my personal favourite - their and there!

[The Dogmother]

Different from and opposite to

 

On the topic of apostrophes, I received a letter from 'a company we all know and love' yesterday. Rosie was opening the mail as usual and was laughing at their totally erroneous use of apostrophes! She offered to send it back corrected... by a 10 year old!

[Guest]

Well done Rosie! It just shows it's not difficult is it? Possibly just needs good clear teaching.

[jlo]

my personal bug bear at the moment is the constant use of the word, "like" in sentences. What worries me is that, when I point it out to the little darlings, they deny using it until I repeat word for word what they have just said. They like don't even know that they are doing it!

[Guest]

Well done Rosie! It just shows it's not difficult is it? Possibly just needs good clear teaching.

 

 

You do realise that's not a proper sentence don't you Ginette? Unless you are talking about a person called "Possibly" who needs good, clear teaching? You'd better pop round to Rosie's for some instruction.....

 

Phil

[Guest]

Sorry! I will try hard to write in complete and proper sentences from hereforth!

[Looney]

I admit it....my grammar can be pretty appalling. It is irritating when official publications and notices are incorrect (I double check stuff I write at work! ) but I also find it extremely irritating when people feel the need to pick up on my errors.....it's one of those look-down-on-the-poor-uneducated-fool moments that really winds me up!

 

I could spend time thinking more about it and learning how to speak and write exactly like wot it should be according to all the grammar books. But then again, so what if I make a few mistakes? Life is too short!

 

Edited to add that no-one on here has picked me up on my mistakes so not referring to forum members!!!!!

[Guest]

It's the officialdom mistakes that wind me up too Looney. I feel quite strongly that if you're responsible for official letters, notices, posters, advertisements et cetera, then you are also responsible for making sure the spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct. Otherwise where has the standard gone? And how is anyone supposed to know what is right? Correct use by adults reinforces the teaching our young people are (hopefully) given.

[Looney]

I do a lot of proof reading at work and have prevented a few things being published. Mainly typos. One lady was nearly credited with being an excellent pubic speaker

 

My Mum used to get really wound up by spellings (used by brands / businesses) such as lite instead of light, eezy instead of easy etc.

[Guest]

I admit it....my grammar can be pretty appalling. It is irritating when official publications and notices are incorrect (I double check stuff I write at work! ) but I also find it extremely irritating when people feel the need to pick up on my errors.....it's one of those look-down-on-the-poor-uneducated-fool moments that really winds me up!

 

I could spend time thinking more about it and learning how to speak and write exactly like wot it should be according to all the grammar books. But then again, so what if I make a few mistakes? Life is too short!

 

Edited to add that no-one on here has picked me up on my mistakes so not referring to forum members!!!!!

 

 

I have a simple rule - only to point out the grammar/spelling mistakes of those who publically criticise others for it - hence my gentle teasing of Ginette above (and she knows I am teasing)

 

I think it's a bit mean to publically criticise other people's grammar and punctuation. I may inwardly groan - and I am anally-retentive enough to groan a lot at spelling and grammar - and I am grumpy-old-man enough to occasionally moan out loud (believe it or not!) - but, if I can actually read it and understand it I will usually let it pass.

 

Phil

 

PS Apologies for my over-extended ellipsis in my first reply to Ginette!

[Looney]

Nothing wrong with a bit of gentle teasing! I too moan out loud when the local paper is so full of errors they jump off the page at you!

 

Slightly off topic (sorry! ). A lady I used to work with received an email from a man that worked in the next department. He insisted on using latin phrases in his emails and she didn't know what they meant. When she replied and asked him to explain/translate he sent an extremely pompous response implying that if she was too stupid to understand basic latin then perhaps he should be dealing with her boss instead

 

[edited for typos ]

[Guest]

It's the officialdom mistakes that wind me up too Looney. I feel quite strongly that if you're responsible for official letters, notices, posters, advertisements et cetera, then you are also responsible for making sure the spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct. Otherwise where has the standard gone? And how is anyone supposed to know what is right? Correct use by adults reinforces the teaching our young people are (hopefully) given.

 

Is one allowed to start a sentence with a conjunction or have the rules changed? I was always taught never to start a sentence with AND or BUT.

 

But I do! And I don't care

[Guest]

or lose and loose? What is that so difficult to get right?

 

or my personal favourite - their and there!

 

Do you mean WHY rather than WHAT Christian?

[The Dogmother]

I admit it....my grammar can be pretty appalling. It is irritating when official publications and notices are incorrect (I double check stuff I write at work! ) but I also find it extremely irritating when people feel the need to pick up on my errors.....it's one of those look-down-on-the-poor-uneducated-fool moments that really winds me up!

 

I could spend time thinking more about it and learning how to speak and write exactly like wot it should be according to all the grammar books. But then again, so what if I make a few mistakes? Life is too short!

 

Edited to add that no-one on here has picked me up on my mistakes so not referring to forum members!!!!!

 

Hi Loon *waves*

 

Don't worry, no-one picks up on it on here unless it makes the post unreadable - we usually get complaints, so have to go and try to make sense of it. I'm guilty of mis-typing when I'm tired... it all comes out looking like Dutch!

[Guest]

I have a simple rule - only to point out the grammar/spelling mistakes of those who publically criticise others for it - hence my gentle teasing of Ginette above (and she knows I am teasing)

 

PS Apologies for my over-extended ellipsis in my first reply to Ginette!

 

Maybe what people don't understand is that those of us who notice poor use of our language do so because we love all the rules and correct usage et cetera (sorry! I hope you understand my Latin phrase ). It's like a hobby. I don't mind at all being corrected. In fact I enjoy it, but I wouldn't preach to people who don't share this particular brand of fun.

 

Phil - I have argued with our vicar's wife about the following bit of our order of service. She is a journalist and insists it is acceptable, but it really annoys me!

 

"The congregation shares the Peace with each other" I would prefer it to say 'Members of the congregation share the Peace with each other"

[Guest]

It's the officialdom mistakes that wind me up too Looney. I feel quite strongly that if you're responsible for official letters, notices, posters, advertisements et cetera, then you are also responsible for making sure the spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct. Otherwise where has the standard gone? And how is anyone supposed to know what is right? Correct use by adults reinforces the teaching our young people are (hopefully) given.

 

Is one allowed to start a sentence with a conjunction or have the rules changed? I was always taught never to start a sentence with AND or BUT.

 

But I do! And I don't care

 

In my book, no! BUT as you can see, I do.

 

I have a feeling that starting with a conjunction (which are now called joining words or something similar ) is now acceptable. In my opinion, that is dumbing down a bit. It's the difference between speech and the written word.

[Christian]

or lose and loose? What is that so difficult to get right?

 

or my personal favourite - their and there!

 

Do you mean WHY rather than WHAT Christian?

 

Indeed I do. Thanks Poet

 

*Get's out red pen and sit's on a 24 hour vigil waiting for Poet to mess' up*

[Looney]

 

......those of us who notice poor use of our language do so because we love all the rules and correct usage et cetera (sorry! I hope you understand my Latin phrase ).

 

[Guest]

...

*Get's out red pen and sit's on a 24 hour vigil waiting for Poet to mess' up*

 

 

I prefer the phrase 'to make a mistake' rather than 'to mess up' The latter seems like such sloppy grammar ;)

[..lay a little egg for me]

Oooh, don't get me started on this subject! I am a freelance writer and editor and so have several bugbears that I try to suppress when interacting with normal people who have a more balanced attitude to grammar! However, I constantly correct my DS for:

 

should of/ could of instead of using should have/ could have

 

Me and Dad went to...

 

There are less girls in the class...

 

Use of apostrophes

 

I am managing to stay calm about different to and compared to at the moment but he is only 9 years old!

 

I am currently undertaking therapy by visiting the lolcatz website...

 

 

BTW, I presume the blue tee-shirt advertising the Apostrophe Police was meant to be incorrect????