Idiomatic, grammatical, spelling and other misteaks....

Punctuation is also very important.
Read the following and then remove the comma;
"I helped my uncle Jack, off a horse."
 
Purple said:
Punctuation is also very important.
Read the following and then remove the comma;
"I helped my uncle Jack, off a horse."
Click to expand...

Radio newsreaders are awful for this - no, not the horse thing - but rather running sentences together without any full stop. I should try to remember one and reproduce it here but basically I'm listening and end up going (hah??), and then realise the latter part of that line is a new story, not a fact pertaining to the previous story. Bearing a marked resemblance to two short planks leads to me going - Hah??? - quite a bit.
 
It's particularly bad when they're just running through the headlines.
 
Given that we are now in the season of goodwill, for you pile of punctuational hard cases, a Christmas tale.

George Mc Arthur .

George was a smithy who lived in Newtowncunningham , here in Donegal.
His occupation was a blacksmith , his claim to fame was his kindly disposition.
George could not curse anyone , or anything ,indeed a curse was never heard to pass his lips, he would even have found something good to say about Hitler.
George was also (saved) in the Lord, and this was long before it was popular to be (saved).
Just before Christmas, George, got the contract of shoeing 2 buck donkeys.
Buck donkeys take severe umbrage at having their legs lifted ,whether it be for shoeing or not.
George got the first shoed and out , but the 2nd donkey was underwhelmed and was very very difficult to shoe.

George eventually got 2nd donkey shoed, and as he let it out , as near a curse as ever emanated from him was heard from George.

{I still don,t see what the Saviour saw in you }

ps. Happy Christmas to you all.
 
Purple said:
I question for the experts here; Does 'Anal Retentive' have a hyphen?
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure if this is one of your little jokes, Purple, but I shall answer on the basis that it's a serious question. I should point out that whilst I have knowledge of several languages, I do not consider myself to be an expert of grammar.

So does “anal retentive” have a hyphen? In my opinion, that depends how the words are used. Specifically,
- When used as a noun, they do not get a hyphen. Example: Purple is an anal retentive when it comes to the correct use of hyphens.
- When used as an adjective, they do get a hyphen. Example: Purple is an anal-retentive poster on AAM who ensures hyphens are used correctly.

I should point out that unless the two words are used in the naming of a horse or something, they should not be capitalised. In other words, it's not GERMAN. I hope this helps.
 
I used to work for a semi state whose name was in Irish. My boss was obsessive about writing briefs (which was my job) which didn't mix Irish and English. So I had to put "it is the position of x" rather than x's position.

Then the ceo changed...and all changed again
 
Purple said:
I question for the experts here; Does 'Anal Retentive' have a hyphen?
Click to expand...

Are all the errors in there deliberate, and an attempt to annoy readers of this thread? Surely, not. I mean, no-one could ever accuse you of being a wind-up merchant, could they?
 
Seagull said:
Are all the errors in there deliberate, and an attempt to annoy readers of this thread? Surely, not. I mean, no-one could ever accuse you of being a wind-up merchant, could they?
Click to expand...
I'll admit to nothing...
 
My own personal bete noire is the 'comprising of' as seen frequently in adverts on real estate websites, as in "newly refurbished apartment comprising of two bedrooms, etc.".....the 'of' is superfluous.....redundant....suffice to say it is an unnecessary word in this context.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Has anyone tried to decipher the writings in the theliberal.ie? It's infant school stuff but "we pride ourselves on our writing" is some kind of mantra over there, or is that the journal.ie who seem equally incompetent from a linguistics perspective?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register