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Pedants' corner

Grammar police

121 replies

chattychattyboomba · 16/05/2013 00:05

there is no such word as 'Et' as in 'I et spaghetti for dinner, I et the lot!'
If you want to say 'eat' as in past tense, the word, my friends is 'ate' ATE! Do you hear me!!!!???Angry

Also 'i were sat there' NO! Wrong!
I was sitting there... OR I sat there.
Got it? Good.

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Crikeyblimey · 16/05/2013 00:08

Unless of course someone actually did sit you there - then you were sat there :)

I hate those two you mention too! My dad always used to respond to someone saying "I was sat..." With "really, who sat you there?"

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LeaveTheBastid · 16/05/2013 00:10

Grin

No idea why but I read that with a Yorkshire accent..

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SPsCliffingAllOverMN · 16/05/2013 00:12

It sounds fine to me. Yorkshire here too Grin

Grammar police absolutely hate me as I have no grasp on grammar or spelling. Strangely no one picks me up on it. Its totally ignores like they expect it and no it wont change.

I also repel apostrophes it seems

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beansmum · 16/05/2013 00:12

The et thing is perhaps more of a pronunciation than a grammar issue - but yes, annoying. Would someone who says 'et' also write 'et'?

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SPsCliffingAllOverMN · 16/05/2013 00:15

I say 'et' but wont spell it as 'et' i spell it as ate

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elQuintoConyo · 16/05/2013 00:19

Was sat = passive, so someone sat you there, you didn't choose your seat/decide to sit down.

I hate: 'what I done was...' eh? Really?

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chattychattyboomba · 16/05/2013 00:37

Yes elquinto. I concur x1000000 on the 'what i done' stance. We'll change the world. 1 MN thread at a time. Blush

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drfayray · 16/05/2013 04:44

I have been doing online dating. The thing that attracted me to the man I am now seeing? That he could distinguish between "your" and "you're".

I literally got hundreds of messages. His stood out.

Romance via Grammar police... Grin

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thylarctosplummetus · 16/05/2013 05:24

I met DH through the internet twelve years ago (before it was cool) and almost decided not to meet him because he used ` instead of ' for his apostrophes.

My job these days is writing and reviewing technical and non-technical reports where being a member of the grammar police is highly valued.

Having said that, it's amazing how quickly form and grammar disappear as soon as I write an informal email or post on a forum.

I'm still religious about commas and apostrophes in text messages though. There's no excuse for sloppiness!

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DonDrapersAltrEgoBigglesDraper · 16/05/2013 05:38

Something I've noticed recently - and I wonder if it's an accent/dialect thing - is people writing 'his' instead of 'he's'. As in, 'his an idiot.

What's that about?

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Habbibu · 16/05/2013 05:56

Both "et" and "his" are pronunciation rather than grammar distinctions. Both fairly typical in the North of England, and quite possibly have as long a history as the pronunciations you favour. "I was sat" is an active form in a number of Northern dialects, where sat serves as present continuous. If said in a very formal context where for some reason you might expect Standard English to be spoken/written then that's one thing, but in informal contexts it's fine. Or do you think dialects should be restricted to vocabulary and adhere to Standard English grammar?

DH is Scottish, and thinks "aren't I?" sounds odd. He uses the more logical "amn't ?" which does make sense.

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Beamae · 16/05/2013 06:02

That's Yorkshire. I was wondering if it was youth speak. My SIL speaks like that, but not my husband, his parents or friends. She says 'were' instead of 'was' and then pronounces it differently if she actually does mean 'were', so it comes out more like 'war'.

I just shake my head in disbelief. I am firmly of the opinion that roughly 75% of the language they use up there is made up on the spot!

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Alligatorpie · 16/05/2013 06:05

I hate et. Drives me nuts.

My dd goes to an international school where she is in the 5% of non native speakers. She comes home saying "salma did say..." or "malika did go...." Last night we were playing a game and she said "you winned me!" (You won - not she was the prize) i want to shake her and shout "you speak English as a first language - stop this insanity!" However, I patiently shadow correct her and appreciate she is blending in with peers.

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Habbibu · 16/05/2013 06:22

Beamae, why disbelief? Do you think there should be no dialects? Don't go to Aberdeen if you can't cope with Yorkshire.

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Beamae · 16/05/2013 06:38

Haha. I have lived in Scotland. Although I often didn't know what was going on I didn't find it half as baffling as Yorkshire. There are a million and one misunderstandings in my family because of how the in laws speak. Keeps us all on our toes. I'm South African so it goes both ways!

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Peahentailfeathers · 16/05/2013 06:41

May I vent?

I hate "I seen." I'm in Liverpool and mainly hear it from people my age (35) and younger.

I aso get annoyed by a lot of mispronunciations but the ones that irritate me most are "yisdudee" for "yesterday" and "tt" pronounced "ss" so you don't know if someone's called Betty or Bessie.

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NotTreadingGrapes · 16/05/2013 06:46

www.apronus.com/learn_english/irregularverbs.htm

Just to invoke the law of Sod when an OP berates someone's grammar/pronunciation.....Wink

//et// is perfectly correct. As is //eit//

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chattychattyboomba · 16/05/2013 07:33

Um...no...now go back and read it properly.

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Dawndonna · 16/05/2013 07:34

I can't bare it. Well, good, I don't want to see it. However, sympathies extended if you can't bear it.

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usualsuspect · 16/05/2013 07:36

Are we not allowed to have accents on MN?

Must we all speak RP, or be banished

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MamaMumra · 16/05/2013 07:41

What pisses me off the most is when people are too lazy to use commas. Yes, I'm talking to you OP. It's 1,000,000.

I suppose people must always have somebody to look down their nose at...

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usualsuspect · 16/05/2013 07:41

I will be the thread police if you are the grammar police.

There is a pendants' corner for this type of thread.


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MamaMumra · 16/05/2013 07:44

Hi usual.
My good deed for the is to inform the PPs that criticising grammar and accents makes one sound like a twat.

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chattychattyboomba · 16/05/2013 07:45

We're doing just fine here thanks all the same.

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NotTreadingGrapes · 16/05/2013 07:58

Are you saying the phonetic transcription offered by English dictionaries the world over (ie that both pronunciations of "ate" = //eit// and //et// are perfectly correct is wrong OP?

You might need to start writing to about a billion publishing houses then.

(that is, if your post underneath mine was directed at me, which I presume it was)

Dontcha just hate it when fact gets in the way of a good bashing thread?

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