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DARK CORNERS OF THE LANGUAGE: DANGLING PARTICIPLE
I am not too happy with my daughter's school.

I have just received an email from them saying: "We told you that we would organise meetings for parents to explain how the school's finances work. We are writing now to invite you to one of the first two meetings."

This is unexpected. When I enrolled my daughter in this school, I had no idea I would be expected to explain the school's finances.

And who are these other parents who will help in the explaining?

At least the school is organising the meeting but, really, one has to query why they can't explain their own finances.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Dark corners of the language, Grammar, Dangling participle

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The inaccurate astrologer

June 23rd 2010 09:46

My astrologer’s advice to me the other day was not to over-complicate things.

My advice to my astrologer is not to over-write things.

Consider the following sentences. 1. With a full moon winking alluringly at Ursa Major this week, it is best not to over-complicate things. 2. With a full moon winking alluringly at Ursa Major this week, it is best not to complicate things.

Grammatical considerations aside, there is no difference in meaning.

The definition of complicate is “to make complex”. There is no such word as over-complicate. If there were, things would get over-messy.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Redundancies, Writing

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Dark corners of the language: an article on articles

October 27th 2009 04:44

English is simple, right? Where French and Italian makes things difficult with two forms of the definite article, masculine and feminine, and German makes things even tougher by throwing in neuter, English uses just one word. The. Isn't that easy?

Unfortunately, no. Which, for example, is correct: "She is in hospital" or "She is in the hospital". The answer depends if you are British or American.

Spare a thought for anyone who has had to learn such nuances as a second language. An interesting example is a German learning English. The German sentence, "Da er Gärtner ist, liebt er die Natur" translates to, "Being a gardener, he is fond of nature". Note that the German construction uses no article before the noun Gärtner while English requires an indefinite article, and German requires a definite article before Natur while English requires no article.

Dig a bit further and it becomes apparent that the rules governing English articles are not simple at all.

One of the least understood dark corners of the language is the use of indefinite articles. A versus an. Is it correct, for example, to say a history or an history?

The issue causes considerable debate, and it is possible in an internet search to find persuasive opinion claiming both are correct. The real answer is "a history", but the reason is a little surprising. Most of us know the rule that an is used before a vowel and a is used before a consonant. What is not always clearly understood is that this applies to the way language is spoken, not written.

Take, for example, an East Londoner who speaks with a Cockney accent. This person would never pronounce the h at the start of the word history. They would say "an 'istory". They would also say an 'ospital and an 'orse etc. And they would be grammatically correct in doing so!

For those who do pronounce the h in history, on the other hand, a rather than an is correct.

It is for the same reason that it is right to use an before words that are spelled with an initial consonant but which are pronounced with an initial vowel sound: an honour, an heir etc. And it is for the same reason that it is correct to use a before a word spelled with an initial vowel but pronounced with an initial consonant sound: a ewe, a university etc.

And the deepest, darkest corner of all surrounds the word historical. "A historical period" is technically correct, and it is easy enough to write it like that. But who amongst us thinks to say it that way? Not me.

research: owl.english.purdue.edu, davidappleyard.com, encarta.msn.com

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Definite and indefinite articles, Writing

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Apostrocises 2

February 26th 2009 05:54

bloggercise pen grammar apostrophe help exercise

Repetition is a powerful learning tool. It is not always popular - think children reciting multiplication tables. But children also learn to operate DVD players and their remote controls, to play complicated on-line and console games, and to understand many of life's procedures and systems through repetition. Great chefs, carpenters and other artisans, musicians and athletes become skilled through repetition.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Apostrophes

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Apostrocises

February 18th 2009 07:20

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Apostrophes

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Dark corners of the language: the apostrophe

February 14th 2009 06:07

Thirty years of politically correct correctness and educational fadism have relegated grammar to the back burner on the stove of intellectual awareness. In particular, correct usage of the apostrophe has collapsed, especially on the Internet and in small newsletters. It's as if the words its and it's have swapped places.

Sharon Colon, The Sharon Colon Apostrophe Manifesto

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Apostrophes

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Dark corners of the language: the gerund

February 9th 2009 07:49

One day about 17.4 billion years ago, when a group of people with unflattering clothes sat down in a meeting room to begin to plan the universe, one of them voiced doubts about the deadline for the job.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Gerunds

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You can't possess your its and apostrophise it too

December 7th 2008 04:30

This will be about the shortest lesson on apostrophes you will see; it will be in the plainest language; and by the end of it some of the mystery of apostrophes will have been banished.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Apostrophes

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Dark corners of the language: apostrophes

December 5th 2008 11:03

I had a friend, a woman of wit, charm and intelligence. She was about 50 years old when I met her, and she was successful in business and in life.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Apostrophes

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Dark corners of the language: the split infinitive

November 30th 2008 06:38

Take an infinitive and split it and listen to the howls. How dare you commit such a crime against the English language, they will cry. It is a common complaint and even those who don't know precisely what a split infinitive is have been heard to sneer.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Grammar, Split infinitives, Writing

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10 rude rules for troubled bloggers

October 15th 2008 03:50

1.
Stop moaning. Stop whining and pouting and looking for someone or something to blame for your blog's lack of success. Admit that this is your fault. Yes, it is. Go on, say to yourself, "This is my blog, this is my responsibility, this is my doing." There, feels strange doesn't it. That's because you are now ready for point two.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Blogging, Grammar, Spelling, Writing

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