Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Lesley Cox]

And of course Word doesn't recognize context so that right is right even when one means write. So the person reading this rubbish thinks, rightly, that the person writing is an uneducated clutz anyway. Right?

[Anthony Darby]

Talking of thee and thou. You should see what they have done to classic hymns in CH4 - the latest edition of the Church (of Scotland) Hymnary. I await their version of Shakespear (now how did he spell his name? )

As my grandmother used to say: "all the world's queer except thee and me, and even thee!"

[Carol Shaw]

And of course Word doesn't recognize context so that right is right even when one means write. So the person reading this rubbish thinks, rightly, that the person writing is an uneducated clutz anyway. Right?

Right 

[David Shaw]

wright

[Lesley Cox]

As my grandmother used to say: "all the world's queer except thee and me, and even thee!"

or "They're all out of step but our Johnnie."

[Rodger Whitlock]

Well Luit, if you are old-fashioned so am I and happy with it. I truly deplore the rubbishing of the English language. I believe even the Oxford Dictionary finds split infinitives acceptable nowadays, common usage being the only criterion of correctness

Let me help you sleep at night, Lesley, instead of lying awake sleepless with worry over split infintives!

In point of fact, the split infinitive has a long and honorable history in English. Even Shakespeare used it on occasion. Eric Partridge summarized the situation this way in his Usage & Abusage:

"Avoid the split infinitive wherever possible; but if it is the clearest and the most natural construction, use it boldly. The angels are on our side."

Partridge offers examples where splitting the infinitive is the only way to avoid ambiguity, vagueness, and circumlocution.

I haven't the patience to go searching for it, but I'm sure that Otto Jespersen has many historical examples in his A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles.

[Lesley Cox]

Well thanks for that help Rodger, with my sleep problems. Any solution for last night's? I kept seeing in my mind this series of little lawns, each planted with crocus, or cyclamen or narcissus or Fritillaria meleagris, the whole lot to be over-planted with Gentiana sino-ornata, for autumn flowers. Can't make up my mind which to tackle first. I guess I have to boldly go, and stick a pin in the list.

[Carol Shaw]

Lesley - and to think I got worried about my dreams...

[Gerry Webster]

I believe it Michael. It is some years since NZ universities required students to spell sulphur as sulfur or sulfer, apparantly as Americans do. It will be si-ki-atry next! (By the way, what is lingo? )

I've only just seen this. I'm impressed that NZ universities still have requirements. I remember when I was teaching & I criticised a student for her poor spelling & grammar. She complained to her personal tutor (a relatively young chap) who confronted me & told me I should not concern myself with trivia. (The imperialistic spell check on this site insists I should write 'criticize' in the American fashion).

[Anthony Darby]

I believe it Michael. It is some years since NZ universities required students to spell sulphur as sulfur or sulfer, apparently as Americans do. It will be si-ki-atry next! (By the way, what is lingo? )

I've only just seen this. I'm impressed that NZ universities still have requirements. I remember when I was teaching & I criticised a student for her poor spelling & grammar. She complained to her personal tutor (a relatively young chap) who confronted me & told me I should not concern myself with trivia. (The imperialistic spell check on this site insists I should write 'criticize' in the American fashion).

My daughter Lucy is doing grade 3 on piano and violin next month (she's 9 and in P5, as her birthday is March) and James (he's 12 and in S1) is doing grade 4 on the trumpet. (I don't know what these equate to in the Australian system they have adopted in England where "year 1" is actually 2nd year of primary school ) Grade 4 is now the standard for Higher music (S5 exam - Highers are the standard Scottish national exams kids take for university entrance - they usually take 5 from e.g. Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French, Geography, History, Modern Studies, Art, Music, Accounts etc). When I did Higher music the standard was grade 7 (Associated Board) and not only did we do keyboard harmony, but had to do written 3 part harmony too! Now the kids don't even need to be able to read music! At least the Biology still maintains some sort of standard, although we no longer require the kids to know the intermediate compounds in respiration! The exam covers all the knowledge learning outcomes, not like some subjects where you can get an A pass (nae stars, sorry) by knowing three 10ths of five 8ths of b***er all.

[gote]

I believe it Michael. It is some years since NZ universities required students to spell sulphur as sulfur or sulfer, apparantly as Americans do. It will be si-ki-atry next! (By the way, what is lingo? )

I've only just seen this. I'm impressed that NZ universities still have requirements. I remember when I was teaching & I criticised a student for her poor spelling & grammar. She complained to her personal tutor (a relatively young chap) who confronted me & told me I should not concern myself with trivia. (The imperialistic spell check on this site insists I should write 'criticize' in the American fashion).

You can set Word to spellcheck according to UK-spelling and even Zimbabwe-spelling or Malaysia-spelling. Of course Zimbabwe-spelling would be imperialistic. So If you are dubious about your own spelling write in Word and import. Somehow I am glad that the spellchecker is using US-English rather than Gaelic.

It is of course not trivia to be able to write reasonably well. The reaction from a reader/employer/examiner is "If they cannot even spell what else is wrong?". I have observed that most of the intellectual gigants are able to write a language that is easy to understand even when they write about very esoteric subjects. Also their lectures tend to be very transparent.

Göte

PS
apparantly

[gote]

Anthony,
Please excuse me for perhaps saying the obvious - as a teacher you probably already have made these reflections.
I suggest you buy sheet music, of a suitable degree of difficulty, to music your offspring loves, and point out that they can find what they need there.
My own realization of the importance of sheet music was at a relative tender age. After having seen 'Hoffman' I found the sheet music to the barcarolle and very laboriously learnt to play it. 
I have noted that some newer music (Beatles is an example) is rhythmically complicated to a degree that most fans never notice. A study of the sheet music will reveal many of these things.
In 'Memory' (Cats) bar #7 is in 10/8 and bar #8 is 12/8; bar #9 is 6/8. This of course completely upsets anyone who is using an "electronic drummer". (perhaps intended by Mr Lloyd Webber  )
The fact that it is a kind of "Waltz" is already difficult to understand by many.
I think that knowledge of this type could be used as oneupmanship by young students needing a pretext for learning reading sheet music.
Göte
PS
I refused to change barcarolle to 'barcarole'

[Carol Shaw]

You can set Word to spellcheck according to UK-spelling and even Zimbabwe-spelling or Malaysia-spelling. Of course Zimbabwe-spelling would be imperialistic. So If you are dubious about your own spelling write in Word and import. Somehow I am glad that the spellchecker is using US-English rather than Gaelic.

Göte

PS
apparantly

I have attempted to do this but STILL get American spelling queries from Word. The use of 'z' instead of 's' in words like realise just looks plain wrong to me 

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony,
Please excuse me for perhaps saying the obvious - as a teacher you probably already have made these reflections.
I suggest you buy sheet music, of a suitable degree of difficulty, to music your offspring loves, and point out that they can find what they need there.
My own realization of the importance of sheet music was at a relative tender age. After having seen 'Hoffman' I found the sheet music to the barcarolle and very laboriously learnt to play it. 
I have noted that some newer music (Beatles is an example) is rhythmically complicated to a degree that most fans never notice. A study of the sheet music will reveal many of these things.
In 'Memory' (Cats) bar #7 is in 10/8 and bar #8 is 12/8; bar #9 is 6/8. This of course completely upsets anyone who is using an "electronic drummer". (perhaps intended by Mr Lloyd Webber  )
The fact that it is a kind of "Waltz" is already difficult to understand by many.
I think that knowledge of this type could be used as oneupmanship by young students needing a pretext for learning reading sheet music.
Göte
PS
I refused to change barcarolle to 'barcarole'

The children have music lessons and both can sight-read music. Lucy is well past playing Hoffman's barcarolle on both piano and violin. Two Sunday's ago she, as a member of the Cathedral trebles choir, was singing Haydn's St Nicholas Mass (we didn't do the Credo) during the service. Last Sunday the trebles (all 8 of them) sang an anthem on their own, accompanied by the piano, and no microphones! It sounded angelic. Not like that horrendous noise that purports to be music on things like the record 'Food, Glorious Food' where accuracy is ignored, and perhaps, even frowned upon! All the kids do is shout horribly.

[Maggi Young]

Göte

PS
apparantly   

.... I believe you meant to correct that to apparently ? 


Carol, nice new photo, I expect you can see us better now, eh?


I believe there is, quite rightly, a difference between the way we speak and the way we write.... that is to say, "write" in more formal applications, work, study and so on. In the context of a forum such as this, the emphasis is more on an informal intercourse between friends, so, in my opinion, a more informal tone is appropriate in most instances. In an international forum there are, naturally, other constraints regarding making oneself inderstood by those who are not fully conversant with idiomatic use of English.

My own difficulty comes because I am a lousy typist , with a keyboard missing the painted identification on half the keys