Quirks of English
Discussion
Timmy40 said:
I've decided to start helping my daughter with her grammar so bought a book on the subject which has made me realise I have absolutely no grammatical knowledge what so ever.
I don't care what the saggy titted hemp mothers of Islington and Totnes think, the pre SATS 'education' system has alot to answer for. Thank god my kids are actually getting an education even though it might be harder for them. Junior school was an utter doss when I went through it.
You may be right, but why does it actually matter? Between my parents and my teachers, I've ended up perfectly able to select the correct tenses for verbs, put my adverbs in the right places and everything else required of me in the English language. I haven't the faintest idea what all the grammatical terms I deploy are called, but why would I ever need to?I don't care what the saggy titted hemp mothers of Islington and Totnes think, the pre SATS 'education' system has alot to answer for. Thank god my kids are actually getting an education even though it might be harder for them. Junior school was an utter doss when I went through it.
Kermit power said:
English is one of the easiest languages in the World in which to learn the fundamentals, but one of the hardest to master.
This is just the problem. I work with a lot of people who have English as a second language, and they all say the basics are easy, it's just that English is a language full of exceptions so when you've learned all the grammar, the next thing you do is almost unlearn it again!It's a fascinating subject, though.
Rawwr said:
I've just tried explaining the following sentence to two Polish colleagues and they looked horrified by it (dropped punctuation from the necessary bit for comic effect):
"Peter, while Paul had had had had had had had had had had had had the better impression on the teacher."
I can't say I am remotely surprised at their reaction. "Peter, while Paul had had had had had had had had had had had had the better impression on the teacher."
You've put one two many "hads" in it. There should be 11, not 12. It makes no f
king sense whatsoever now. Were you trying to confuse them on purpose?
Greg66 said:
I can't say I am remotely surprised at their reaction.
You've put one two many "hads" in it. There should be 11, not 12. It makes no fking sense whatsoever now.
Were you trying to confuse them on purpose?
I got excited while typing. IT HAPPENS.You've put one two many "hads" in it. There should be 11, not 12. It makes no f
king sense whatsoever now. Were you trying to confuse them on purpose?
It's also more natural to say it rather than write it
SGirl said:
Rawwr said:
German is really easy to pick up. Just look at the word and think; "What does it sound like?"
Krakenwagen and Krankenhaus being two of my favourites.
Schmetterling! Krakenwagen and Krankenhaus being two of my favourites.
SGirl said:
Kermit power said:
English is one of the easiest languages in the World in which to learn the fundamentals, but one of the hardest to master.
This is just the problem. I work with a lot of people who have English as a second language, and they all say the basics are easy, it's just that English is a language full of exceptions so when you've learned all the grammar, the next thing you do is almost unlearn it again!It's a fascinating subject, though.
andy-xr said:
Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän is the obvious one
A German colleague was explaining the Riverdanubesteamboatcompanycaptain to me, but we had a bit left over. "Ah 'fahrt' represents movement" she said.
"A bit like English", I replied.
Edited by CanAm on Tuesday 31st May 16:12
Einion Yrth said:
Grammatical gender is a feature of approximately a quarter of all of the world's natural languages; it has bugger all to do with Latin, although Latin is heavily inflected and therefore gender is a feature thereof.
Bugger all and heavily inflicted? As for German, yeah the basics are easy enough but declinateing adjectives properly is beyond most people. Including most of the natives.
EnglishTony said:
Einion Yrth said:
Grammatical gender is a feature of approximately a quarter of all of the world's natural languages; it has bugger all to do with Latin, although Latin is heavily inflected and therefore gender is a feature thereof.
Bugger all and heavily inflicted? As for German, yeah the basics are easy enough but declinateing adjectives properly is beyond most people. Including most of the natives.
EY B.A.(hons) German and Linguistics Sheffield. 1982.
bigandclever said:
GetCarter said:
that that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is
My first English teacher asked us to make that make sense grammatically using punctuation.
I still can.
In a few ways, I hope My first English teacher asked us to make that make sense grammatically using punctuation.
I still can.
Out of interest:
That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is not that it? It is.
Even for English speaking people it's hard unless you know what the word is meant to say. Work colleague was trying to be romantic and found a recipe (in itself a word that breaks all the rules) and went off to the butchers where he asked for a minute steak. He didn't realise it was a time minute, the butcher had a lot of fun offering him small steaks.
Einion Yrth said:
Inflected, declining. As for German the natives manage it fine, but they also, like English, have a rich pool of dialects.
EY B.A.(hons) German and Linguistics Sheffield. 1982.
Interesting. Especially the bit about dialects.EY B.A.(hons) German and Linguistics Sheffield. 1982.
Most educated Germans see these as merely bad language skills but I'm sure you know that.
I also have a BA (Hons) and have been living and working in Germany for the past 20 years. I don't declinate my adjectives as the only people who can do it properly would rather practice their English with me.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff