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Ron Dough
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« Reply #705 on: 01:21:13, 22-08-2008 » |
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It is all fun to you, but I want to get " I have not done it" form into my head.
I don't know how it is called (Present something). I am very big on grammarhere.
We can not have me sounding like complete idiot. I want to be half of that.
Oh, t-p, you've opened up a can of worms here: it's a Present Perfect. This site looks as if it will help you. Please don't worry about it too much now: come back to it in the morning, when you've had some sleep. |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #706 on: 12:11:21, 22-08-2008 » |
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I would argue that "Melamine-faced MDF and plywood" is not a sentence because it has no verb. This person cannot be serious.
I was about to say the same thing (I followed Bryn's link before reading your reply to it). But did you notice that he also uses hyphens instead of en-dashes in the penultimate paragraph in precisely the context he's complaining about people using hyphens in?!  |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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George Garnett
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« Reply #708 on: 12:13:43, 26-08-2008 » |
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a hackneyed war-horse A Member conjures up an alarming combination.   |
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« Last Edit: 12:20:44, 26-08-2008 by George Garnett »
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #709 on: 11:30:13, 30-08-2008 » |
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in precisely the context he's complaining about people using hyphens in?! Ahem. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Antheil
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« Reply #710 on: 15:15:46, 31-08-2008 » |
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Breaking News for Pedants (cut and pasted from BBC News website)
"Tesco is to change the wording of signs on its fast-track checkouts to avoid any linguistic dispute.
The supermarket giant is to replace its current "10 items or less" notices with signs saying "Up to 10 items".
Tesco's move follows uncertainty over whether the current notices should use "fewer" instead of "less".
The new wording was suggested to Tesco by language watchdog The Plain English Campaign. Tesco said the change would be phased in across its stores.
"Saying up to 10 items is easy to understand and avoids any debate," said a spokesman for The Plain English Campaign.
"Fewer" should be used when you are talking about items that can be counted individually, for example, "fewer than 10 apples".
"Less" is correct when quantities cannot be individually counted in that case, e.g. "I would like less water".
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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richard barrett
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« Reply #711 on: 15:18:57, 31-08-2008 » |
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Yes. In fact there is no "uncertainty" as to the correct usage. |
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Antheil
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« Reply #712 on: 16:05:09, 31-08-2008 » |
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Yes. In fact there is no "uncertainty" as to the correct usage. Well, that's put me in my place  I have fewer than ten apples I have less than ten apples What's the difference?  I have up to 10 apples therefore I can proceed to checkout with clear conscience. |
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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George Garnett
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« Reply #713 on: 16:33:08, 31-08-2008 » |
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'Ang on Plain English Campaign, haven't you introduced an uncertainty that wasn't there before?
Here I am at the checkout with 10 items in my basket. In the good old days I could, despite grammatical squeamishness, at least go to the '10 items or less' queue without a blot on my moral conscience.
(And for those who remember Jonathan Miller as Bertrand Russell in Beyond the Fringe:
"Moore, Moore," I said, "'Do you have apples in that basket?".
"No", my friend replied.
"Moore, Moore," I said, "Is it the case that you have no apples in that basket?".
"No", Moore replied, mischievously.
Faced with being impaled on the horns of a dilemma, I decided to try another logical tack. "Moore, Moore," I countered, "Do you have any apples in that basket?"
He smiled, beatifically. )
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« Last Edit: 17:00:03, 31-08-2008 by George Garnett »
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richard barrett
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« Reply #714 on: 16:36:15, 31-08-2008 » |
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Here I am at the checkout with 10 items in my basket
Oi! Can't you read? Where does it say "up to and including 10 items"? Next customer please. |
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Antheil
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« Reply #715 on: 16:43:59, 31-08-2008 » |
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Here I am at the checkout with 10 items in my basket
Oi! Can't you read? Where does it say "up to and including 10 items"? Next customer please. I think, being of a timid nature, I dare not venture into Tescos for fear of being regarded as one apple short of a flagon of cider. Suppose I got to the checkout with only one apple, some Parmesan and a guinea fowl? I dread to think of the consequences. |
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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martle
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« Reply #716 on: 17:06:05, 31-08-2008 » |
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Suppose I got to the checkout with only one apple, some Parmesan and a guinea fowl? I dread to think of the consequences.
...not least in your kitchen later on. |
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Green. Always green.
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #717 on: 17:10:34, 31-08-2008 » |
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Not so much the kitchen as the dining room  |
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thompson1780
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« Reply #718 on: 17:22:00, 31-08-2008 » |
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Getting warmer, Ollie. Tommo |
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #719 on: 17:23:23, 31-08-2008 » |
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You're assuming she would make it to the...
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