A pedant writes....

[ASC1951]

I don't understand why people get so worked up about grammar and punctuation: apparently Feedback on the Beeb could fill an afternoon every week with complaints on that sole topic. There is often an undercurrent of middle class snobbery, a ludicrous conviction that bad spelling is lazy, ignorant and sure evidence of moral turpitude.

The purpose of language is to communicate, and if the meaning is clear is the form so important? Don't forget that these 'rules' are no more than a very recent consensus on what formal speech or text should be. They don't apply in other contexts and in any case language is a living, moving thing.

 

[benb]

Punctuation and grammar add clarity, not remove it.


A woman without her man is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.


This page has some clever examples.

Dear Mother,

In law, there is nothing to make me say thank you, but the quality of your gifts compels me at least to write to tell you how I feel. Thank you so much for the presents! I was expecting nothing more than a token yet, again, you have exceeded even your own incredible standards.

It was a shame you had to stay here for such a short time. I thought I might have coped, but it was unbearable seeing you leave. The relief was immense when I heard we might see you again soon. I wanted to end it all by saying goodbye now. I hope I will not have to say it to you again for a long time. If you have the opportunity to spend Christmas elsewhere next year, please do not.

Much love

Matthew

Dear Mother-in-Law,

There is nothing to make me say thank you, but the quality of your gifts compels me at least to write to tell you how I feel. Thank you? So much for the presents I was expecting. Nothing more than a token, yet again! You have exceeded even your own incredible standards.

It was a shame you had to stay here. For such a short time, I thought I might have coped, but it was unbearable. Seeing you leave, the relief was immense. When I heard we might see you again soon, I wanted to end it all. By saying goodbye now, I hope I will not have to say it to you again for a long time. If you have the opportunity to spend Christmas elsewhere next year, please do.

Not much love

Matthew

 

[Arch]

Arch, could you just travel on East Coast or Virgin next time?

I think York to Manchester via London is quite a detour to make to avoid some missing apostrophes....

Actually, I sent the email mostly for fun, not through annoyance. I had a nice weekend and was in jovial mood.

I don't see why they couldn't have apostrophes on the sign, in terms of pixels or whatever you call the dots of the matrix. They can do commas and full stops and question marks.

I did wonder whether it would be amusing to draw an apostrophe on a bit of paper, and put it on a stick, and jump up everytime to scroll it across in the right place.....

 

[Campfire]

I think anything official should be correct.

A few years ago there was a new shoe shop in our local shopping centre with the sign "Sophies Shoe's" without the quotation marks. Every time I went past I wanted to take one out and put it in the right place.

 

[slowmotion]

I saw a coach in London which had this painted on the back....

"No trip to long or to short". Ah, Bless.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

It really annoys me when professional signwriters get it wrong.

 

[amnesia]

Be wary of US sites. Their grammatical usage is often different to British English, not simply their spelling. And you are right - someone there needs to realise that giving twenty examples of something doesn't make it twenty times as clear.

I was just waiting for someone to post this... it's different from, not different to

.

Similar to, different from. It really winds me up that the BBC seem to have let this slip in recent years. Do they not teach grammar in schools these days ?

Another one is supermarkets advertising check out tills for "10 items or less" when they really mean "10 items or fewer"

 

[wobbler]

As this is a pedantic thread, I give you a f to sort that typo. or should that be an f??

Well spotted

But then how do you say it?

"Banks Brewerey" or Banks(e)s Brewery"

I would say it. "Bankziz". But I also call buses, buzziz. So don't believe anything I say.

There is an Off Licence near here that sells, Real Ale's.

 

[Coco]

You realise that someone is going to read that e-mail and wonder why they bother putting trains on in poor weather, just so someone can find something else to criticise 

 

[Arch]

You realise that someone is going to read that e-mail and wonder why they bother putting trains on in poor weather, just so someone can find something else to criticise

Hence my positive first point. It's a feedback sandwich. Well, an open feedback sandwich, I couldn't think of another bit of positive 'bread'.

 

[benb]

It really annoys me when professional signwriters get it wrong.

To be fair, signwriters are just making what the client has told them to.

 

[Arch]

Victory!

I was on TPT Express again this weekend, and noticed that the displays now say "There are lots of places..." and "You can..." instead of "Theres" and "Youll".

I feel quite proud. I wonder if anyone else mentioned it!

 

[Maverick Goose]

I particularly enjoyed the job ad for a chef at a 'high quality brassiere restaurant' in Kirkby Lonsdale

 

[snorri]

A local taxi company has placed a noticeboard at the Marina in Inverness advertising tours for visitors to the area. There were about a dozen tour suggestions, including one which took in some local distilleries and described as the "Whiskey Tour".

 

[vernon]

There used to be a sign at the entrance to a car park near me that read : "Trespassers wil be persecuted."