Proper English

Blanche

It's a shame pychos isn't around anymore.


Just because some people make grammatical or spelling errors doesn't mean they are unable to present their arguments in a coherent manner.

The errors used to annoy me a lot, which, in turn, annoyed other people. (I think someone even called me a language fascist or something of that nature.)
So now if I understand the argument, screw the errors, whether they are the result of grammatical misuse or typing too quickly.

You can't expect everyone to express himself while knowing all the rules and subtleties of the English (or any other) language.
Besides, if Double U Bush spoke better, he wouldn't be such an amusing f*ed
up excuse of an elected official.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Collin wrote:

And why is it 'a European' not 'an European'?

Just theorising, here.

"An European" could be argued to create a glottal stop, between the "n" in "an" and the "Eu" of European. This is because "Eu" is a semivowel, a bit like a dipthong. Phonetically, the sound of "Eu" is similar to "you". Since many people insist "y" is a consonant, you could say that a semivowel - the start of which sounds like a consonant - should be preceded by "a", rather than "an", to avoid that awkward clash of consonants that'll have your mouth turned inside out in the process of speaking. "A European" flows much more nicely, too, for practical purposes of speaking.

However, "y" is a vowel as well as a consonant, so you could try to argue for the correctness of "An European", except that "Eu" is a semivowel anyway, and not a vowel, and therefore to be preceded by "An".

I just checked the phonetic spelling of European. It's yʊr'ə-pē'ən. So there you are.

Collin

By the way, "an hotel" seems hard to pronounce.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Collin wrote:

By the way, "an hotel" seems hard to pronounce.

Not if you're Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and you av a bermb in your rrrreeerrrm.

wendy1976

i make a lot of spelling mistakes but then again english is not my original language.I am learning alot though reading and posting here.I wish i knew more words to express my thoughts better.I can imagine that it can be irritating for some if you have to read something twice to figure out what they are saying ...but then again lets see you make a good conversation in dutch:D
Almost everybody here knows a litlle english,so that has got to count for something right??;)

the edit is for......jup !!

Ahnimus

wendy1976 wrote:

i make a lot of spelling mistakes but then again english is not my original language.I am learning alot though reading and posting here.I wish i knew more words to express my thoughts better.I can imagine that it can be irritating for some if you have to read something twice to figure out what they are saying ...but then again lets see you make a good conversation in dutch:D
Almost everybody here knows a litlle english,so that has got to count for something right??;)

the edit is for......jup !!

Cool, well I can speak a bit of german. lol

I don't speak very good though, most non-english people speak better english than I speak german. I don't fully understand the grammar and it takes time for me to process it.

This thread was more directed at native english speakers. I also don't think spelling is such a bad thing, a lot of the time they are typos as well. It actually only really bothers me when someone in the media says things like "..and he is in [the] hospital." It makes me feel weird. Like our language is losing it's goodness. On the other hand I don't care if you call a rubbish bin a garbage can or vice versa. It's mostly grammatical errors and double or tripple negatives.

Edit: by the way, your english is very good.

redrock

A or An.

Use an in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel. That means it's "an honor" (the h is silent), but "a UFO" (because it's pronounced yoo eff oh). This confuses people most often with acronyms and other abbreviations: some people think it's wrong to use "an" in front of an abbreviation (like "MRI") because "an" can only go before vowels. Poppycock: the sound is what matters. It's "an MRI," assuming you pronounce it "em ar eye."

One tricky case comes up from time to time: is it "a historic occasion" or "an historic occasion"? Some speakers favor the latter — more British than American, but you'll find them in both places — using an on longish words (three or more syllables) beginning with H, where the first syllable isn't accented. They'd say, for instance, "a hístory textbook" but "an históric event." (Likewise "a hábit" but "an habítual offender," "a hýpothetical question" but "an hypóthesis.") Still, most guides prefer a before any H that's sounded: "a historic occasion," "a hysterical joke," "a habitual offender" — but "an honor" and "an hour" because those H's aren't sounded. [Entry revised 21 April 2006.]


The 'official' a or an answer!

Ahnimus

That's actually what I meant to begin with, I think a few others pointed that out as well. I always just noticed how it sounds if said wrong, it just sounds weird. No big deal I suppose.

wendy1976

Ahnimus wrote:

Cool, well I can speak a bit of german. lol

I don't speak very good though, most non-english people speak better english than I speak german. I don't fully understand the grammar and it takes time for me to process it.

This thread was more directed at native english speakers. I also don't think spelling is such a bad thing, a lot of the time they are typos as well. It actually only really bothers me when someone in the media says things like "..and he is in [the] hospital." It makes me feel weird. Like our language is losing it's goodness. On the other hand I don't care if you call a rubbish bin a garbage can or vice versa. It's mostly grammatical errors and double or tripple negatives.

Edit: by the way, your english is very good.

I got that part about this thread being for native english speakers,but i got corrected on my spellings when i was trying to make a point in some other thread...so i just took my chance here to react;)
It is like that here too...i got an email from my niece yesterday(she is 17)it took me 10 minutes to figure ot what she was saying.All spelling mistakes,and the worsed thing is ..they do it on purpuse(spelling check?:D).Some weeks ago they brought a streetlanguage dictionairy on the market here so we old people can understand what the hell the young ones are talking about!!!:(

Byrnzie

Vedderlution_Baby! wrote:

Actually I had to go piss really bad so I just typed. But rest assured, my face is now red.


Correction: Were.


I'm sorry my brothers...I have let you down.


By the way, Your a dick.

Ebizzie

supposively.



hurts me to even type that "word".

cornnifer

It is petty, but, it bugs the crap out of me when someone says their phone number is someyhing like 555- 5 oh oh 5. Those aren't O's, they're zero's!!! Bugs me.

hippiemom

Ebizzie wrote:

supposively.



hurts me to even type that "word".

Oh my! I've never seen that one before. That's awful!

Ebizzie

hippiemom wrote:

Oh my! I've never seen that one before. That's awful!

I've heard it spoken more often than I've seen it written.

jlew24asu

Abookamongstthemany wrote:

I could care less as long as I get the point. There's enough stuff to stress myself out with in the world. This one just doesn't seem like a biggie to me.

exactly. if I can figure out what they are saying. why should I give a fuck. this is just a message board.

Ahnimus

I get slightly irked when a person says "authoritative" or "orientated" the extra syllable is really not required. "authoritive" and "oriented" are pefectly fine.

jlew24asu

Ahnimus wrote:

I get slightly irked when a person says "authoritative" or "orientated" the extra syllable is really not required. "authoritive" and "oriented" are pefectly fine.

are you talking about the way people speak in general? or how people speak on this board?

Ahnimus

jlew24asu wrote:

are you talking about the way people speak in general? or how people speak on this board?

In general

Gremmie95

wow, what a thought inspiring thread.

PJamGrunge10

On most posts I see someone misuses "there", "their", and "they're". It's very annoying and not hard to understand.


Also, people seem to think that should've (or should have...is should've even a real word? ) is "should of"....I don't like that either.