Easy Grammar Fix

[Territory Magpie]

Well, I heard on radio today that if ur in NSW and doing ur yr 12 exams, it's ok to use txt-speak in all exams, except English. I don't mind ur - it's clear. BUT I can't abide the blur between Your and Your're.

Tut tut Snag LOL The highlighted text is equivalent to writing "your are"

 

[Snag Breac]

Tut tut Snag LOL The highlighted text is equivalent to writing "your are"

True! Hilarious! I've been working on this very thing for 2 days. Must be punch drunk. Will duly edit. Well spotted, Salty.

 

[Territory Magpie]

No worries, I'm a grammar nazi myself. Like you, I wince whenever I see incorrectly used "yours" and "theirs"...eg "Your jokin' me!" was the last such gem I saw. Not a big fan of text language either. I guess I'm just an old fogey!

 

[Snag Breac]

By Special Request.....​

There is no such word in formal English as Yous.
It's used in speech by some people to suggest the plural, but it's not necessary. You works for both the singular and the plural.

Where I grew up, some people used to say Yousuns.​

 

[Snag Breac]

No worries, I'm a grammar nazi myself. Like you, I wince whenever I see incorrectly used "yours" and "theirs"...eg "Your jokin' me!" was the last such gem I saw. Not a big fan of text language either. I guess I'm just an old fogey!

Glad I'm not alone then.

 

[mdc]

By Special Request.....​

There is no such word in formal English as Yous.
It's used in speech by some people to suggest the plural, but it's not necessary. You works for both the singular and the plural.

Where I grew up, some people used to say Yousuns.​

I think you'll find the accepted spelling in Aus lit. is "Youse"

 

[Snag Breac]

I think you'll find the accepted spelling in Aus lit. is "Youse"

And I've heard today that "Youz" is now "officially" a word "on the internet". But for anyone doing their GAT tomorrow - don't even think about it, in any orthographical shape or form.

 

[Snag Breac]

Afterthought​

You could use Yous/Youse/Youz/Youze - however you choose to spell it - in creative writing, for speech.

E.g.

"Geez, youse Pies barrackers is knobs," said the feral Carlton fan as he emptied his last bottle of metho.

It hope that's clear.​

 

[Snag Breac]

I Hate You, Adsact!​

Sometimes I despair. In fact, I've been so disheartened by the splurge of misspellings recently that I'd just about given up until I discovered, adsact in a thread on the Fantasy Footy forum.

.....I have said before and I'll say it again now ... I do not mind opposition players on the Bombers board and I didn't consider anything an insult. What I do mind is some fool quoting me for something I didn't say and then saying "How about don't come on the Wonders board when you're not a Wonder". He can't adsactly argue that point when he's done the adsact same thing but on our board.

What, I wondered, was this? It couldn't....no, it couldn't possibly be an illiterate rendering of exact, surely? How could anyone get it so wrong?
And then came this epiphany from the same poster, when someone sought clarification of the abominable adsact.

yes i am struggling to find it in the dictionary. Can only find it being used by others in online forums. I'm guessing I should have said exact.

Hilarity and relief. Sigh......

Oh adsact! How horrible life is when you're in the world!​

 

[RRRooocccaaa]

! How horrible life is when you're in the world!

It's like living inside A Spaniard in the Works

 

[Territory Magpie]

Personally, I always enjoy gems such as:

"Having a full forward who can kick straight all goes well for the Magpies for the rest of the season." What was meant of course was "augurs well", but I never tire of marvelling at the number of people who mis-hear the expression and jump to the conclusion that they've heard "all goes well" It sort of make sense their way as well.

Another pet hate: "The employer indicated that renumeration for the position was negiotiable." What was meant was "remuneration". I used to be guilty of this myself, to the point where I thought it was a typo if I saw "remuneration", but then I checked the dictionary and was amazed at my own ignorance.

 

[Magnus the Magpie]

The title of this thread really managed to get my interest. I supervise a number of international students with English as a 2nd language and editing their papers and theses is an absolute PitA.

I know a couple of very-good editors who charge reasonable rates but these are still a bit too high for most Uni. students. Anybody know of any really good editing software? I'm thinking of the context-dependent style of speech recognition tools that can be 'trained' and gradually learn more about a specific individual and his/her idiosyncrasies. I know AI researchers are working on this sort of stuff.

 

[Snag Breac]

The title of this thread really managed to get my interest. I supervise a number of international students with English as a 2nd language and editing their papers and theses is an absolute PitA.

I know a couple of very-good editors who charge reasonable rates but these are still a bit too high for most Uni. students. Anybody know of any really good editing software? I'm thinking of the context-dependent style of speech recognition tools that can be 'trained' and gradually learn more about a specific individual and his/her idiosyncrasies. I know AI researchers are working on this sort of stuff.

I believe my friend has tried to follow this up, with no success. He teaches at one of Australia's finest tertiary institutions, and has had so many problems with work submitted by internat studs that he usually ends up editing it himself; and then they all want a H1.

 

[Magnus the Magpie]

I believe my friend has tried to follow this up, with no success. He teaches at one of Australia's finest tertiary institutions, and has had so many problems with work submitted by internat studs that he usually ends up editing it himself; and then they all want a H1.

My students are all doing PhDs and are actually very good and dedicated (for the most part). We are working in a technical field but the thesis is the end-product and, international or local, grammar has to be reasonable. It's rare that I find even a single line where I don't have to make at least one change - drives me insane.

There must be something out there that can help. If not, maybe there's a real market niche.

 

[sirlothie]

My students are all doing PhDs and are actually very good and dedicated (for the most part). We are working in a technical field but the thesis is the end-product and, international or local, grammar has to be reasonable. It's rare that I find even a single line where I don't have to make at least one change - drives me insane.

There must be something out there that can help. If not, maybe there's a real market niche.

I'd do it, can think of worse jobs...

 

[sirlothie]

I Hate You, Adsact!​

Sometimes I despair. In fact, I've been so disheartened by the splurge of misspellings recently that I'd just about given up until I discovered, adsact in a thread on the Fantasy Footy forum.

.....I have said before and I'll say it again now ... I do not mind opposition players on the Bombers board and I didn't consider anything an insult. What I do mind is some fool quoting me for something I didn't say and then saying "How about don't come on the Wonders board when you're not a Wonder". He can't adsactly argue that point when he's done the adsact same thing but on our board.

What, I wondered, was this? It couldn't....no, it couldn't possibly be an illiterate rendering of exact, surely? How could anyone get it so wrong?
And then came this epiphany from the same poster, when someone sought clarification of the abominable adsact.

yes i am struggling to find it in the dictionary. Can only find it being used by others in online forums. I'm guessing I should have said exact.

Hilarity and relief. Sigh......

Oh adsact! How horrible life is when you're in the world!​

Butcher! I feel dirty reading such a woeful attempt at spelling a 5 letter word... if it wasn't for people like you Snag the English language wouldn't last a generation before being shoved through a proverbial meat grinder and coming out the other end something entirely unrecognisable.

It still happens already, for instance "txt msg ppl" and William Shakespeare would struggle to converse, I guess everything gets fairly well bastardised eventually but kudos to those who seek to protect our humble language from such savage, constant molestation.

 

[Snag Breac]

Butcher! I feel dirty reading such a woeful attempt at spelling a 5 letter word... if it wasn't for people like you Snag the English language wouldn't last a generation before being shoved through a proverbial meat grinder and coming out the other end something entirely unrecognisable.

It still happens already, for instance "txt msg ppl" and William Shakespeare would struggle to converse, I guess everything gets fairly well bastardised eventually but kudos to those who seek to protect our humble language from such savage, constant molestation.

Now come on Sirl, I'm not opposed to the normal and natural evolvement of language, including txt tlk, which is fine in context because it clearly conveys meaning. But adsact is a new low.

 

[Snag Breac]

My students are all doing PhDs and are actually very good and dedicated (for the most part). We are working in a technical field but the thesis is the end-product and, international or local, grammar has to be reasonable. It's rare that I find even a single line where I don't have to make at least one change - drives me insane.

There must be something out there that can help. If not, maybe there's a real market niche.

Yes, my mate's studs are studious PhDs too - they just can't write English. They're not working in a technical field either. In fact, they're working in a field where language is critical. I suppose it's just something we have to manage if we want to maximize education sales to overseas customers.

But you're right, it's an opportunity for some bright tenchno-spark. I'd just be happy if people knew the basic parts of speech; but, might as well just try and catch the wind......

 

[pongo_3931]

I have a question for the EGF.

I have a feeling this is based around proper nouns and the like but I'm just not sure.

Forever and a day I have heard people saying "I'm going to gym..." as though it's a proper noun (like I'm going to Coles, Im going to church).

Is this a hangover from days gone by when there where there we're very few gyms therefore the noun had context? Shouldn't people be saying "I'm going to the gym..."?

As there are about 30000000 gyms around these days wouldn't "I'm going to Fitness First" or "I'll be at Lifestyle" be a more appropriate use?

Help me Easy Grammar Fix, the gym is making me feel like a noun clown!

 

[Snag Breac]

I have a question for the EGF.

I have a feeling this is based around proper nouns and the like but I'm just not sure.

Forever and a day I have heard people saying "I'm going to gym..." as though it's a proper noun (like I'm going to Coles, Im going to church).

Is this a hangover from days gone by when there where there we're very few gyms therefore the noun had context? Shouldn't people be saying "I'm going to the gym..."?

As there are about 30000000 gyms around these days wouldn't "I'm going to Fitness First" or "I'll be at Lifestyle" be a more appropriate use?

Help me Easy Grammar Fix, the gym is making me feel like a noun clown!

I suspect that when people say this they mean that they are going to the activity of gym, just as you might say; "I'm going to footy/archery/ballroom dancing." If they're focusing on the place rather than on the activity, they would then say, "I'm going to the gym."

But so long as it's clear........

This thread isn't very visually appealing, is it? Must get Didaka to make a logo when he's fully firing.

 

[Snag Breac]

This thread needs an ULTRA simple guide to the Parts of Speech - the words and phrases that make up language. An illustrated, interactive guide, ideally, but very basic. So here goes.......

The Parts of Speech

Part 1 - The Noun

​

A noun is a word or phrase used as the name of a person, place or thing.

E.g. players. Here are two players.
​

N.B. No bias has applied in the selection of the above player photo.

 

[Snag Breac]

Part 2 - The Verb​

A verb is a word used to indicate action, state or occurrence.

E.g. To scowl. Didak is scowling at barrackers.

To dance. The players danced in the paddock.

 

[Snag Breac]

Part 3 - The Adjective​

An adjective is a word or phrase that describes a noun.

E.g. Orange . Medders top is orange.
E.g. Tall. Travis Cloke is tall.

Dale is hungry.

 

[Snag Breac]

Test
​

Posters who know their first 3 Parts of Speech are now invited to write a sentence describing any one of the pictures below, using a noun,a verb and an adjective.​

 

[Shellz]

​

Didak(noun) is looking(verb) very hot(adjective)!