General Chat

I was talking to a friend recently,and he was describing a conversation he had with other friends,it went thus, I went then she went and then he went again,When I asked him Where they all went to, He just gaped in astonishment, I assumed he must have meant what they were talking about. Hal.

My husband has an annoying habit of asking if he can "lend some money" I tell him am quite happy for him to give me money if he so wishes. Naomi

Oh I cringe at so many mistakes, and I don't even live in Gt Britain. For example on "Ready, Steady, Cook" they constantly say "a bit of water" instead of "a drop of water". With all these advertising slogans is it not surprising that children of today do not know how to spell! I can remember my English teacher telling me to try, if possible, to avoid the word "got". "I have" sounds much nicer, doesn't it? Sylvia xxx

Surely Sylvia it cannot be just English that has bad grammer ,i bet you could find some in the Dutch language as well.

Hi, On the same theme as Hal. "He turned round and said...." "So I turned round and said............... " "Then he turned round and said" Who are these people who constantly rotate while having conversations? Gwynne

Spelling is not that important but syntax, grammar and punctuation errors can alter the whole meaning of a written message. len

I just brought this dress today. No dear you bought it!

When I was young we were taught you did not start sentences with but or and. Look at the newspapers today and what do they start with.

I recall My long gone ma in law relating conversations, that went He said, she said that he said she said., etc etc........

In a previous existence - well, before I was married - an Italian boyfriend used to ask what is this verb I got ?! And I wish "they" would know the difference between complimentary and complementary. :) Joy

Gwynneth Obviously - Spin Doctors

Hi Bob, Thanks for that - I knew there would be a proper word. lol, Gwynne

I have a few pet hates in the use of grammar as well - some already mentioned, some not. Can I - instead of May I - you are quite capable but are you allowed Bit of a solid - drop of a liquid - you cannot have a bit of water Under the circumstances - should be in the circumstances I can still hear my mother quoting at me : - "After if and wish it's were" - and not was of course How it can now be acceptable to start a sentance with And or But - I will never understand, And is a continuance - and if you start a new sentance you are not continuing and But is an interruption or argument - again how can you start with that. Also of course it is totally incorrect to have a comma and an and together - they both do the same job. As for pronounciation the thing I dislike even more than dropped T's and H's - is the way the majority of people say the letter H - it is spelt and pronounced AITCH - with no Hay sound at the front of it. Oh and of course the phrase "You Know" used at the end of most sentances - I long to scream at people - NO I DON'T KNOW Janet

Hi Val, Yes, the Dutch also have mis-appropriated words, and like to use too many English words in their language. Really like showing how good they are in English, although sometimes they use the wrong word in English. An example is "life" concert, when they mean "live" concert. Nobody's perfect I guess! Sylvia xxx

My mother related a story to me, which happened to her last week in a supermarket. She was looking for ingredients for her Christmas baking and couldn't find the cloves, so she asked an assistant. He replied "Wot cloves? like jumpers and cardigans and stuff?" My mum laughed so much, she had to go outside.

The use of "went" for "said" and "goes" for "says". Still, I suppose it shows a certain grammatical consistency.

wowee check all you grammatical scholars out!! in my humble opinion i like the fact that we have so many regional variations in our great language. if everyone was as perfect as some would have us, who would we judge?? like i said, just my opinion.

I liked the story about "cloves". It is really how people tend to talk these days. I think they've never been corrected as children so they don't know any better! I "fink", I "fought" are commonplace. Mind you, as I said before, it happens in all languages. when I first came to the Netherlands and tried to listen to the language I always heard "benede". I thought what on earth is it. Anyway, in Rotterdam they are inclined to leave off the "n" making it sound completely different. Love, Sylvia xxx

I find a lot of people say "arks" instead of ask.

If it wasn't for people making these grammatical/syntactic errors, we wouldn't be able to feel so smug and superior! I don't like it on the news when they introduce each new item with "And..." When I was at primary school starting a sentence with and was almost as bad as using the word nice. nell