ASF spelling and grammar lessons

[2020hindsight]

It's all in the fricken context! eh?
...
I'm in the lead to win a comp for a dog lead made of lead. That makes sense dont it?

Pat, I met a bloke who gave me his business card "Lead Buyer" it said
so I quizzed him on what the price of lead was -
and he looked at me as if I was crazy.

Like
"Lead Sinker" vs "Lead Singer"

or
"Lead lead the metals during today's market". etc etc

"Lead lead the metals during the lead-in to today's market(??)"

 

[Pat]

Pat, I met a bloke who gave me his business card "Lead Buyer" it said
so I quizzed him on what the price of lead was -
and he looked at me as if I was crazy.

Like
"Lead Sinker" vs "Lead Singer"

or
"Lead lead the metals during today's market". etc etc

"Lead lead the metals during the lead-in to today's market(??)"

Quirks I guess? God love it, but where's the logic?

 

[2020hindsight]

Quirks I guess? God love it, but where's the logic?

exactly - along with the beauty of english in the many small variations of meaning that you can choose ( the ABC's Adventures in English is brilliant here)

you also get these crazy and unnecessary (you'd think) ambiguities. - which must make learning English a nightmare ( for people like eg - Sudanese refugees for instance )

I posted this back a few posts on this thread. It is all about a ray of hope for sanity
But I was amazed to see how few spoke it ...

estimated at between 100,000 and 2 million speakers

PS The many choices of English words for any meaning surely have more subtlety of meaning than a language like say Esperanto yes? Although Esperanto has noble origins.

btw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
Esperanto (the word) means "one who hopes" .

Quote:
Esperanto (help·info) is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. The name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof first published the Unua Libro in 1887. The word itself means 'one who hopes'. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy and flexible language as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding

Although no country has adopted the language officially, it has enjoyed continuous usage by a community estimated at between 100,000 and 2 million speakers. By some estimates, there are about a thousand native speakers.[2]

Today, Esperanto is employed in world travel, correspondence, cultural exchange, conventions, literature, language instruction, television (Internacia Televido) and radio broadcasting.[citation needed] Some state education systems offer elective courses in Esperanto[citation needed], and in one university instruction is in the language (see Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino). There is evidence that learning Esperanto is a useful preparation for later language learning (see Propaedeutic value of Esperanto for more details).

 

[2020hindsight]

Speaking of double negatives.... this one has a test ( dead simple)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/texttypes/negatives/quiz.shtml

But also includes the following interesting examples...

"there's nothing I can't learn"
'There's no-one I can't communicate well with.'
'There's nowhere in Birmingham I wouldn't be prepared to work.'

They suggest that these could be made clearer, although I personally have no problem with this, and persaonally I would class them as legitimate "double negatives resolving to the positive in each case" (I think?)

They also mention trying to eliminate the word "got"
'I have not got a driving licence'.
should be "I do not have a driving licence. "

 

[2020hindsight]

there’s nowhere I won’t try to go
and no how do I not yearn for it
there’s no way I won’t try to grow
and there’s knowhow I want to learn for it

 

[Whiskers]

Have you noticed how some people seem to have a fixation on double negatives!?

I read somewhere ages ago that it is a lot more difficult for the human brain to process double negative language, especially immature, still developing brains that have little or no concept of comprehension until about 3 yr old.

The parent is going on in an angry voice to a 2 yr old like "Don't kick the ball inside the house." But the kid just wants to kick the ball and all he hears is people getting angry with him. If the parent had said "Take the ball outside and kick the ball on the grass", It would be a lot easier for the child to understand what the parent wanted.

Can you imagine trying to train a dog to 'sit', buy saying "Don't stand" or 'come' by saying "Don't go over there."

It particularly annoys me when these people then talk about disciplining their children and pets in terms of yelling at them and smacking etc, for trying to do what they hear as opposed to what these people think they are trying to convey to them.

 

[Whiskers]

Oops, 'double negatives' should be "negative termonology".

This is what I meant to say.

Have you noticed how some people seem to have a fixation on negative termonology!?

I read somewhere ages ago that it is a lot more difficult for the human brain to process negative termonology, especially immature, still developing brains that have little or no concept of comprehension until about 3 yr old.

The parent is going on in an angry voice to a 2 yr old like "Don't kick the ball inside the house." But the kid just wants to kick the ball and all he hears is people getting angry with him. If the parent had said "Take the ball outside and kick the ball on the grass", It would be a lot easier for the child to understand what the parent wanted.

Can you imagine trying to train a dog to 'sit', buy saying "Don't stand" or 'come' by saying "Don't go over there."

It particularly annoys me when these people then talk about disciplining their children and pets in terms of yelling at them and smacking etc, for trying to do what they hear as opposed to what these people think they are trying to convey to them.

 

[Wysiwyg]

Have you noticed how some people seem to have a fixation on negative termonology!?
I read somewhere ages ago that it is a lot more difficult for the human brain to process double negative language, especially immature, still developing brains that have little or no concept of comprehension until about 3 yr old.

Yes ....i remember reading about this thought process many years ago.The mind doesn`t hear/comprehend the don`t and only the wording (kick the ball inside the house) being spoken.
It is a `hand me down` communication fault that is common in all of us.

It particularly annoys me when these people then talk about disciplining their children and pets in terms of yelling at them and smacking etc, for trying to do what they hear as opposed to what these people think they are trying to convey to them.

Again, this is a common communication fault perpetuated by many a parent.The mind is complex,yet basic in function at the same time.


p.s. termonology is agreed by many to be spelled terminology.

p.p.s. it takes awareness that one is talking in the neg. to effect change to stating what the parent wants.The word don`t is an easy add on.

 

[2020hindsight]

Can you imagine trying to train a dog to 'sit', buy saying "Don't stand" or 'come' by saying "Don't go over there."

It particularly annoys me when these people then talk about disciplining their children and pets

lol - brilliant example m8

this is off thread but.. vaguely relevant to your post ...
then there was that parent (an old drinking mate .... of ... a friend mine )

went to his house and his kid is playing with truck - pretty much ignoring him - his little boy about 3 at the time - either intentionally or , as you say, just too young -

anyway he would say

tommy stop playing with the truck (and go to bed or something)
repeat
repeat (kid still dribbling "brrm brrm" while pushing the truck back and forward)

( this bloke was always humourous btw, lol - and it was never with yelling,
- but after two or three attempts he'd say in an aside to the adult with him - who by now would be amused at the kid's obvious wish to become a truck driver ....

"Tommy stop playing with the truck this instant !! or alternatively CONTINUE DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING (slightly louder, but still barely audible to the kid ) - but - WHATEVER YOU DO - DON'T DEFY ME!!!"

 

[2020hindsight]

speaking of inconsistent spelling of a word
check out reference.com (and elsewhere) on the apparently interchangeable spelling of "alchohol" or "alcohol"
maybe they were drinking the profits when they posted that one

http://www.reference.com/search?r=13&q=Alchohol
speaking

 

[Pat]

My most stuffed up spelling is the word patients or patience....
How do you write a patient patient? Like that?

 

[Julia]

My most stuffed up spelling is the word patients or patience....
How do you write a patient patient? Like that?

Yes, Pat, assuming you are describing e.g. a person waiting to see a doctor who doesn't mind the doctor running two hours behind time. In that case the first 'patient' is used as an adjective. If you were wanting to describe the characteristic he is displaying by not getting anxious about the waiting time you would say he is displaying 'patience' (noun).
I'm now worried I might have confused you further????

 

[Whiskers]

p.s. termonology is agreed by many to be spelled terminology.

Agreed. 'Twas the hour of the night.

p.p.s. it takes awareness that one is talking in the neg. to effect change to stating what the parent wants.The word don`t is an easy add on.

Indeed. Also what I find annoying and frustrating is when people also add in copious amounts of umm's and arr's, you know, and long pauses.

It must be a nightmare for some young kids trying to understand what is being said sometimes.

 

[Pat]

Yes, Pat, assuming you are describing e.g. a person waiting to see a doctor who doesn't mind the doctor running two hours behind time. In that case the first 'patient' is used as an adjective. If you were wanting to describe the characteristic he is displaying by not getting anxious about the waiting time you would say he is displaying 'patience' (noun).
I'm now worried I might have confused you further????

Undersatnd, So a patient patient makes sense/cents (meaning the spelling is correct, I understand the context...)

 

[Joe Blow]

Lets try a little punctuation, shall we?

Firstly, all sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. A full stop is also known as a 'period'.

I see this a lot:

Fred went to the shop and bought some bread ,milk ,potatoes ,and a pack of cigarettes .

I have no idea why some choose to put a space before the commas and full stops in this way, but many do it. To my eye it looks absolutely horrible.

This is how is should be:

Fred went to the shop and bought some bread, milk, potatoes and a pack of cigarettes.

The same with quotation marks and parentheses:

" Just quoting myself for later reference " ( and using parentheses to include an aside ) .

Again, don't include the extra spaces. It looks awful and makes it more difficult to read. Here is how it should look:

"Just quoting myself for later reference" (and using parentheses to include an aside).

 

[wayneL]

Lets try a little punctuation, shall we?

Firstly, all sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. A full stop is also known as a 'period'.

The one that always gets me is when people use a full-stop at the end of an obvious question, instead of a question mark. It's a mistake I make from time to time and it annoys me even more when I do it and spot my own mistake.

 

[moneymajix]

Is there a perfectionist on the forum?

 

[BIG BWACULL]

Is there a perfectionist on the forum?

What, did you call Me
Or
What did you call me ?

 

[2020hindsight]

Lets try a little punctuation, shall we?
This is how is should be:
Fred went to the shop and bought some bread, milk, potatoes and a pack of cigarettes.

Joe
I think it should be:

Fred went to the shop and bought some bread, milk and potatoes, and decided to give the pack of cigarettes a bit miss!.

oops
or is that
cigarettes a bit miss! (?)

 

[Joe Blow]

The one that always gets me is when people use a full-stop at the end of an obvious question, instead of a question mark. It's a mistake I make from time to time and it annoys me even more when I do it and spot my own mistake.

I have done it myself too Wayne. Usually when I'm in a hurry.

It is always a good policy to proofread your posts before submitting them. It has become standard practice for me and I find my posts have fewer errors as a result.