Grammar Police

[Drago]

Thats is, alas, contradictory. Even a non specific, generic, place is still a place, and there is no rule that differentiates them from specificic places. That may be a convention in some quarters, but it is not the commonly usEd OnE.

Ditto with names. Even when discussing names without reference to a specific person it should still be capitalised. For example, "I think Cedric is a dreadfully old fashioned name".

A name is a name, a place is a place, even when being discussed in the abstract.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

This thread gives me the shakes...

It gove me the shakes too.

 

[figbat]

In that case I should refer to going Home from Work, using the Roads in the Countryside, slowing down in the Towns and Villages - I might stop at the Chip Shop on the way.

Proper nouns are the differentiation between specific and generic places. My kids go to Poshshire Country Primary School, which is a primary school in Poshshire.

 

[HMS_Dave]

It gove me the shakes too.

View attachment 547747

For heaven's sake! I can't take anymore...

 

[DaveReading]

In that case I should refer to going Home from Work, using the Roads in the Countryside, slowing down in the Towns and Villages - I might stop at the Chip Shop on the way.

As we all learned at School.

 

[Sterlo]

Even that makes me uncomfortable. I get twitchy when people verb nouns.

You mean as in when they start talking about "medalling" at the Olympics, a medal is a noun not a verb!

 

[raleighnut]

Language is constantly evolving innit, try reading a bit of Chaucer (i still have nightmares about English Lit. 'O' levels)

 

[glasgowcyclist]

In that case I should refer to going Home from Work, using the Roads in the Countryside, slowing down in the Towns and Villages - I might stop at the Chip Shop on the way.

Proper nouns are the differentiation between specific and generic places. My kids go to Poshshire Country Primary School, which is a primary school in Poshshire.

That's getting close to the German model where they capitalise all nouns and gerund forms.
I'm pretty sure we fought two wars to avoid that.

 

[gavroche]

I often see kids writing: "I have went ". Grammar is slowly disappearing and I think the younger generation is not even aware of this as they all take it for granted. They just follow what they see and hear from the media, footballers, actors, pop stars etc..... and don't get me started on the americanised spelling we get over here now: tire ( tyre), tonite ( tonight) , donut ( doughnut) , color ( colour ) and many more.
I think English teachers are fighting a losing battle to be honest and that is a sad state of affair.

 

[Sterlo]

I often see kids writing: "I have went ". Grammar is slowly disappearing and I think the younger generation is not even aware of this as they all take it for granted. They just follow what they see and hear from the media, footballers, actors, pop stars etc..... and don't get me started on the americanised spelling we get over here now: tire ( tyre), tonite ( tonight) , donut ( doughnut) , color ( colour ) and many more.
I think English teachers are fighting a losing battle to be honest and that is a sad state of affair.

Totally agree with the Americanisation (if that's even a word) of English over here, my pet peeve is 24/7. No it's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it's just laziness.

 

[BoldonLad]

I often see kids writing: "I have went ". Grammar is slowly disappearing and I think the younger generation is not even aware of this as they all take it for granted. They just follow what they see and hear from the media, footballers, actors, pop stars etc..... and don't get me started on the americanised spelling we get over here now: tire ( tyre), tonite ( tonight) , donut ( doughnut) , color ( colour ) and many more.
I think English teachers are fighting a losing battle to be honest and that is a sad state of affair.

I would agree, the average UK person's grasp of English grammar is tenuous.

I include myself in that statement.

However, at 72 years of age, I do not feel I can be classed as "young".

It may be that I simply managed to absent from school, when the class was taught English grammar, but, it was not until I was at Grammar School, and we were taught French, that I realised that verbs, nouns, adjectives etc existed. The idea of conjugation of verbs was a mystery to me.

 

[Archie_tect]

If you could all remember to breathe.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I often see kids writing: "I have went"....

I don't know the dialect in your part of Wales but I think a good number of UK speakers would not see that as an error. It's not "Queen's English" but it's how many dialects work - it's certainly common amongst Scottish speakers - despite Queen's English being the standardised dialect imposed on them.

 

[DaveReading]

Totally agree with the Americanisation (if that's even a word) of English over here

Or, as our friends across the Pond would say, "Americanization".

 

[swee'pea99]

However, at 72 years of age, I do not feel I can be classed as "young".

Nor do we, mate.