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Turtleneck Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 8:58 PM |
"This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put."
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DAKOTA Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 8:58 PM |
Quote: As for prepositions at the end of the sentence; this is also slightly ambiguous. You know, they say that 'a preposition is not something you should end a sentence with' ;o)
You should not end your sentence with a preposition.
Tada!
Hehe, as if I always write and speak with perfect grammar. That would be a miracle. :D
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ricv64 Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 8:59 PM |
AbsolutPurple wrote: ricv64 wrote: That's Americans Abs !
just like "have you gotten my fax ?"
lol
HAH , I got no stinking faxes |
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the boy with a cryptic name Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:00 PM |
Personally, living in England, I would never use 'waiting on' except when you're being a waiter (of the restaurant variety).
If you're waiting, I would say wait for in speech and written.
Hope this helps, but I think it will just add more confusion :) |
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AbsolutPurple Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:01 PM |
goosey_84 wrote: AbsolutPurple wrote: ricv64 wrote: That's Americans Abs !
just like "have you gotten my fax ?"
lol
?? that's not the proper way to say it??
nope.
"have you received my fax ?" |
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Turtleneck Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:05 PM |
The explanation I was given is that English is based on Latin. In Latin is was impossible to end a sentence with a preposition. The crazy English rule makers applied that rule to English. It is just a rule for a rule's sake. If you end a sentence with a preposition you will be understood, even though it is not considered proper. Sometimes it is awkward to NOT end a sentence with a preposition. There are times when it is sinful.
Never say: What are you here for? Say, Why are you here?
And of course, written English is more formal than spoken English. And never begin a sentence with a conjunction. Ha ha! |
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Hanne Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:06 PM |
the boy with a cryptic name wrote: Personally, living in England, I would never use 'waiting on' except when you're being a waiter (of the restaurant variety).
If you're waiting, I would say wait for in speech and written.
Hope this helps, but I think it will just add more confusion :)
Thank you! I definitely speak British English so I'll just use the argument that 'waiting on' is American, again with the restaurant exception.
Although... wouldn't it be nice to have a waiter waiting for you when you arrive, and then waiting on you while you eat? Hmm... :oP |
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Hanne Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:10 PM |
Turtleneck wrote: The explanation I was given is that English is based on Latin. In Latin is was impossible to end a sentence with a preposition. The crazy English rule makers applied that rule to English. It is just a rule for a rule's sake. If you end a sentence with a preposition you will be understood, even though it is not considered proper. Sometimes it is awkward to NOT end a sentence with a preposition. There are times when it is sinful.
Never say: What are you here for? Say, Why are you here?
And of course, written English is more formal than spoken English. And never begin a sentence with a conjunction. Ha ha!
I'm use conjunctions at the beginning of a sentence much too often. I just claim that it's for dramatic effect, so there :o)
As for the difference between written and spoken; I think all languages have differences there. It's the same in my native tongue. Among our fellow scandinavians, I think we're renowned for NOT pronouncing and saying words like we write them.
The only medium that has almost fully adopted spoken language, is probably text messages. Txts r sometimes difcult to decipher! |
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Turtleneck Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:10 PM |
But the Rolling Stones aren't American and they're Waiting On a Friend. Hmmmm.
While we're on the topic, all the US word-nerds are in a tizzy over the British and Canadian usage of, "gone missing" and "went missing." We prefer "disappeared" or just "is missing."
We are starting to hear those phrases on the news here and it is sparking a lot of debate. |
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ricv64 Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:15 PM |
| just say it like Madonna would |
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Hanne Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:17 PM |
Turtleneck wrote: But the Rolling Stones aren't American and they're Waiting On a Friend. Hmmmm.
While we're on the topic, all the US word-nerds are in a tizzy over the British and Canadian usage of, "gone missing" and "went missing." We prefer "disappeared" or just "is missing."
We are starting to hear those phrases on the news here and it is sparking a lot of debate.
It's always like that when another language starts intefering with the 'true' language. All the old professors here also accuse the young generation of ruining the language with English words and phrases. My pet hate is the literal translation of 'pissing me off'. In Danish, it sounds like someone is litterally peeing on you :oS
Oh, and at work we've had a discussion about s and z, such as finalise/finalize, organise/organize. We're three technical writers, and we're all been taught that s is English and z is American. However, z seems to be popping up all over the place. It seems that the English written language is beeing invaded by Zs... |
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ricv64 Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:21 PM |
The infamous Z monster
you should check out Tagalog , it has English , Spanish etc.... in it .
Deba ? |
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AbsolutPurple Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:23 PM |
Imagine how it feels when you're not familiar with american english and your boss comes in at 9 am stating "God ! I'm so pissed !"
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DAKOTA Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:25 PM |
A Z nothing more than just a pointy backward S.
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AbsolutPurple Posted Fri 05 Oct, 2007 9:29 PM |
DAKOTA wrote: A Z nothing more than just a pointy backward S.
ah zhite ! |
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