Latest conference news

Posted on February 19, 2013 by
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Why learn to spell correctly? I have a spelling checker

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

Many people find spelling unimportant. And if they do find it important, they sometimes still believe there is no need to learn to spell correctly since we have a spelling checker. Therefore, let me illustrate the flaws of this useful spelling checker tool, as in the poem below:

Eye halve a spelling chequer

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when I rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker’s Hour
spelling mite decline,
And if we’re lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flair,
Their are no fault’s with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a ware.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word’s fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw’s are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays,
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting too pleas.

From: blog.darrencannell.com.

Spelling is indeed important. Firstly, to avoid confusion in meaning. Secondly, bad spelling may suggest that if the author does not seem to care enough about what he/she is saying, people should not be bothered to even read the article.

Until the time that spelling checkers will understand pragmatics fully, students need to be taught how to spell correctly, and, for example, learn the difference between their, they’re and there, to mention one of many pitfalls.

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Fuck my grammar, Mary

Posted on May 19, 2013 by

And here is another one from Marilyn French’s Our Father. This time an old chestnut. Mary, the middle one (of the legitimate sisters) is discussing feminism with illegitimate and coloured Ronnie:

… As long as women have the babies they will need protection.

From who?

I beg your pardon?

Who do they need protection from?

Really, Ronny, your grammar …

Fuck my grammar, Mary. Why do women need … (p. 140)

Elsewhere is this blog there is a post on the disappearance of whom, and Marilyn French’s comment is in line with this development.

I’ll have to read on to see if there is any more of it in the novel.

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The both of you

Posted on May 19, 2013 by

Penguin edition (1994)

Prescriptivism in literature or films: I’ve already noted a few examples in this blog. Here is another one. It is from Marilyn French‘s novel Our Father (1994). Alex, the first speaker, is one of the three (or four if you include illegitimate Ronnie) sisters who get together when their father suffered a stroke.

“You too! That’s what she does! The both of you so tough and hard but underneath you’re a couple of pussycats.”

“The two of you,”  Mary said sourly.

” Excuse me?”

Either ‘the two of you’  or ‘both of you.’  but never ‘the both of you’”.

Ignoring this Alex gushed to Ronnie … (p. 125).

Again, the purpose of the correction could have been to shut the speaker up (see Bertie vs. Mr Brown), but it didn’t.

I don’t know if this is a usage feature that is discussed in (American?) usage guides at all, and if it is, please let me know, but I’m collecting examples like these for the book I’m writing on prescriptivism. There must be a lot more, and I don’t know how to search for them systematically as I can only read one book or watch one film at a time. So if anyone could help here, I would be very grateful indeed.

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New grammar tests in English schools

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

Marilyn Hedges, one of the readers of this blog, asked me to post the following:

From the Guardian article

Formal grammar teaching in English schools stopped in the 1960s, as Anya Luscombe mentioned in her recent talk in Leiden. It seems as if the grammar/no grammar policy may have come full circle, since 11-year-olds in England had to sit a grammar and spelling test this week for the first time according to an article in The Guardian earlier this week.

The Telegraph

The Telegraph reports that the reform is part of the Department for Education’s efforts to address concerns from universities and employers that too many pupils arrive without basic literacy and numeracy skills despite having passed national curriculum tests.

It will be interesting to see what the effect of this renewed attention to grammar will be in a few year’s time.

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Koffie’s or Koffies: apostrophe confusion in Dutch

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

Koffie's?

I came across an interesting use of an apostrophe with a plural in Dutch on my way to Leiden, and wondered what caused this misuse of the apostrophe in the image above. According to the Van Dale dictionary the correct plural of koffie is koffies, not koffie’s.

I came up with some possible theories to account for this misuse:

1. Generalising the Dutch apostrophe rule:

English loanwords that end in -y get an apostrophe plus -s in Dutch, unless there is a vowel before the -y, according to Genootschap Onze Taal. The coffee shop owner may have applied the same rule, adding -’s although the Dutch word does not end in -y (cf. Dutch baby – baby’s).

Another possible explanation could be that the apostrophe is used to avoid confusion in pronunciation. However, there is no need for an apostrophe since there is no such confusion while saying koffies out loud because there is just one way of pronouncing -ie.

2. English influence on Dutch:

English uses the apostrophe quite often before the -s, but never with plurals. The use of an apostrophe therefore has a clear purpose, since -’s (or only the apostrophe in other cases) usually denotes possession. Sometimes the apostrophe is used to refer to something without a noun following, as in my father’s. This use leaves out the noun place. But this does not apply to koffie in the example above, since it is meant to indicate the plural.

To sum up, the misuse of the apostrophe in koffie’s can be accounted for in various ways. Could it indeed be influenced by English usage or is it due to generalising the Dutch apostrophe rules? I am curious to see what more the apostrophe future will bring us!

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Please remember to check out with your public transport chip card

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

Dutch ov chip cardTwice a week, on my way to and from university, I hear the advice stated above: “Please remember to check out with your public transport chip card”. (The British equivalent of such a card would be the London Oyster card.) And each time I think: “remembering is of no use, one shouldn’t forget.” The Dutch counterpart of this sentence is: “Vergeet niet uit te checken met uw OV chip kaart”. Literally translated this would indeed be: “Don’t forget to check out with your public transport chip card”. Could one indeed use “Remember to check out with your ov chip card” and “Don’t forget to check out with your ov chip card” and not change the meaning? In other words, are remember and forget interchangeable?

From Google Books

Surprisingly, the Dutch public transport organisation chose the first option: “Remember to check out with your OV chip card”. Little was there to be found on the difference in usage between these different words. Otto-wolf (2005) provided me with a possible explanation. Remember is the positive way of referring to not forgetting something and this positive approach seems to work, according to her. The word remember stresses WHAT you want done. On the other hand, don’t forget clearly involves action. So why could it be the case that the transport chose remember? What we have seen so far is that Dutch public transport wants to approach English people with positive terms since we are sensitive creatures, whereas the Dutch are generally known to be direct. It may sound better to ask customers to remember something instead of to not forget it and the Dutch public transport people don’t want to give the impression that they are ordering persons around. This idea is strengthened by the use of please. But in terms of clarity: is this truly the message they want to convey? Until I have a clear answer besides these speculations, I will be forced to keep on thinking: “Why remember…?”

Or am I one of the few that consider this to be a problematic usage item?

References:

Otto-wolf, A. 2005. How Many Patches Has Your Tolerance Quilt? : Living with Tolerance for one Another”. Victoria: Traffic Publishing.

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It is not you, it is your grammar.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

This is crucial information which can save and change your life and the lives of others. You may be not aware of the impact your use of grammar, spelling and punctuation can have on your future. Texting ur beautiful to your crush can kill butterflies and put feet back on the ground. Misplacing a comma can save lives, especially the ones of your beloved grandparents. And do you never dare splitting infinitives, because they can mean life or death.

Okay, this is maybe slightly exaggerated. But the truth is that there are many who care about flawless grammar, correct spelling and impeccable punctuation. If you do not want to miss out on finding your soul mate; if you want to save your grandparents’ lives and the entire universe, you should pay close attention to how you use your language.

This BBC article, a true gem, illustrates perfectly what we are dealing with in this project. Identifying the attitudes towards disputed usage and old chestnuts such as the split infinitive seems to be a topical issue. Nevertheless, it shows that language use is not merely an educational topic, but in fact rather personal. So what about you? Do you care about grammar, spelling and punctuation? Do you make judgements about people who use them differently? Pedant or not – show your true colours!

Grammar, spelling, punctuation

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