Vexing phrases

[northernladuk]

Context fecking hell M didnt expect you to roll out that trite example. Spoken it would make perfect sense, why should the written word be different?

Have you evern tried to help your Uncle Jack off a horse?

[northernladuk]

Sorry but they still teach English at school, they just don't teach much grammar because the language is tending towards function over form. Sorry to break it to you but what you were taught is no longer 'proper English' anyway. Move with the times grandad.

Sadly true. Was talking to my other half about this thread to day and they teach the kids to start sentences with a conjunction nowadays. Was a no no back in our day. Was very surprised.

[vetran]

Have you evern tried to help your Uncle Jack off a horse?

that is telling

[OwlHoot]

Apostrophes are for dumb****s who cant understand context, they were invented only @500 years ago by some verbose Italian.

That's not strictly true, of some ancient documents anyway. Saxon charters and the Domesday Book for example are full of abbreviations with squiggles over them, because parchment was pretty expensive and scribes lazy and/or in a hurry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._abbreviations

[malvolio]

So you're boasting that your learning makes you struggle to understand something an illiterate would not find confusing?

Sorry but they still teach English at school, they just don't teach much grammar because the language is tending towards function over form. Sorry to break it to you but what you were taught is no longer 'proper English' anyway. Move with the times grandad.

All that proves us that your teachers are as ignorant as you.

As I said - HTH BIDI

[SueEllen]

Sorry but they still teach English at school, they just don't teach much grammar because the language is tending towards function over form. Sorry to break it to you but what you were taught is no longer 'proper English' anyway. Move with the times grandad.

Not true about grammar teaching. It's back en vogue.

[kloos]

Two phrases I overuse:

It is was it is.
Onwards and upwards.

The missus has even given up telling me to stop saying them.

[TestMangler]

Two phrases I overuse:

It is was it is.
Onwards and upwards.

The missus has even given up telling me to stop saying them.

Are you a junior PM ?

Add in 'we are where we are' and you might be in line for a promotion.

[d000hg]

Not true about grammar teaching. It's back en vogue.

To what sort of level? - functional or academic? I don't recall ever being taught grammar explicitly but I suppose I must have been. But I couldn't tell you what a past participle is, find what or where the gerund is, or any of that sort of thing.

Actually typing this reminded me of French lessons pre-GCSE, I think that was the only 'formal' grammar lessons we had. As he pointed out, he was teaching us English grammar to explain the French counterparts as none of us knew any of it (and this was at a reasonably good school).

Latin seems to be having a small boost in popularity too from what I hear?

[vetran]

Two phrases I overuse:

It is was it is.
Onwards and upwards.

The missus has even given up telling me to stop saying them.

The first I had a boss who always said that. I replied it is what it shouldn't be and its our job to fix it!