English language

[Bob Willson]

I am constantly apalled by the lack of understanding betwixt the words your and you're

YOUR means belonging to somebody.

YOU'RE is a contraction of the words 'you are'.

It isn't that difficult.
Your = belonging to

you're = you are

get it right please

[Sturdee]

Many posts to this Board have spelling and/or grammatical errors, which sometimes make them a tad difficult to read. This is because a lot of us are woodies and ordinary people not language professors.

I would rather read a post with spelling errors and gain some knowledge than a perfectly written epistle that waffles on without any substance.

My dear Bob, if you are going to be the self appointed English language Nazi then please make sure you get your OWN spelling right.

You may be apalled but the word is APPALLED. So please get it right.



Peter. ( Who occasionally makes spelling mistakes.)

[Bob Willson]

That was an appalling typo rather than a spelling error; comes from trying to get my old eyes to read the tiny font in the text boxes on the BBS

I totally agree about the content of the message rather than the spelling but I must insist that from now on all documents are put through a spelling checker. This will assure the continuing purity of the German English language.

Sieg Heil

[Shane Watson]

What ya talk'n bout?

[Grue]

How Confusing is the English Language?

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.


Glenn

[ozwinner]

Hey, there is nuffink wrong wif me gramma, apart from her being dead that is.
Yous need to get youre owd speeling fixded firsxt, yous do.
Typo, smypo, yous should spend mor timn in da shed.

[Ben from Vic.]

I often wonder what people think about the spelling or grama errors that come out in my posts, but then my thinking goes as follows..

"this is a WW BB, and WW is my hobby, not English. Other wise the web address would be 'englishforums.ubeaut.com"

I suppose that this makes me lucky that my spelling isn't perfect, so I don't tend to see others mistakes.

signed.

X

Ps. Yes, I did just quote my own thoughts.

[ozwinner]

You also have to understand that some peoples are not haveing English as there ( yeah I know ) first language.
We should be encorouging such people to have a say, rather than picking up on there ( there I go again ) spelling mistooks.

Chairs, Al

[Sturdee]

Thanks Al for encouraging me to have my say as English is only my second language or was it my third or fourth? . In Holland I first started to learn French, then German then Latin and finally English.

Mind you with lack of practise I have forgotten most of the others.


Peter.

[ozwinner]

I have two languages too, my first is Manchester English, the second is 'straaaalian.
I tell ppl I am bilingual. ( cup of tea and a bun )
I always think it is good to get the "other" persons account of things, there are a 101 ways to do a job and I know of only 1, so the more I hear, read the better, 'specialy from other cultures.

Cheers, Al Grasby

[Robert WA]

Peter.

Latin??? That takes me back a while.

Non illegitimus carborundem.

As to correct English, all I remember is the rule that prepositions are words that one should not end sentences with.

[ozwinner]

That meens.
My sandpaper is clogged.

[Sturdee]

Robert,

Yes, Latin and if my family did not migrate when we did the next year I would have had to learn Ancient Greek as well. Five languages as well as Dutch in the third year of high school.

Boy was I glad we left because when I came here I only had to learn English and I used Dutch as the second language instead of the French that was taught at the school I went to here.

Peter.

[PaulS]

i dnot konw waht the plerobm is, Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rest can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Pual

[Geoff Sims]

Whilst not wishing to be seen as an "English language Nazi, and being somewhat less than perfect in the English dept myself, I have to agree with Bob to a large extent that proper use of the language is becoming a rarity these days.

My comments are not so much aimed at the users of these forums, but at the appalling standard of spelling and grammar taught in our schools and displayed by the younger set.

It seems that very few people these days are aware of the differences between such simple terms as there, they're and their, to, two and too, your and you're, and so on.

I work with young people for a living (not a teacher) and have noted that even the brightest of students don't know how to spell or correctly put together a sentence. Many, themselves, acknowledge this shortcoming and are quick to point out that our educators no longer see correct grammar and spelling as a priority. So long as the kids can communicate, it seems that the basic rules of English don't matter much.

I guess I'm just living in the past, but if, when I was a student, I'd made some of the basic mistakes which are common today, I would have been hit over the head by the teacher and made to write lines on the blackboard until I got it right. Sounds primitive I suppose, but it sure worked.

And, how many young people nowadays can add up without a calculator? We had to recite the times tables over and over as kids, until we learnt it off by heart, but youngsters these days don't even know what the times table is.

Oh well, got that off my chest. Gunna go back ta me shed an do sum wood work n stuff.

Geoff