For the grammar nazis: "while using three phones at once", or "whilst using three phones at once"?
Just finished listening to an audio book on language and have completely changed my attitude to grammar.
Real language is the spoken variety, not what appears in print. Writing down an account for others to read is no different to translating from one language to another. Many of our grammar rules are arbitrary rules set down by 18c academics raised on Latin and Greek and infatuated with its grammatical rules for declining verbs and changing object and subject prepositions.
They thought English had decayed from its Latin roots, had stopped obeying rules of grammar and they needed to be reinstated, like preposition "whom" for the object and "who" for the subject. "Whom" was an invented word that never before had been spoken, "who" works perfectly well. "While" and "whilst" mean the same, whilst sounds posh, but is just a later version of the old English word "while" and no one is going to misunderstand what you are saying either way.
Grammar as needed for spoken language to be understood is learnt intuitively and need never be written down except for helping foreigners learn the language. We are just slaves to the whim of some fossilised old farts who wrote some arbitrary rules down 200 years ago which genteel society took to heart allowing them to distinguish themselves from the illiterate hoi polloi.
For the grammar nazis: "while using three phones at once", or "whilst using three phones at once"?
Just finished listening to an audio book on language and have completely changed my attitude to grammar.
Real language is the spoken variety, not what appears in print. Writing down an account for others to read is no different to translating from one language to another. Many of our grammar rules are arbitrary rules set down by 18c academics raised on Latin and Greek and infatuated with its grammatical rules for declining verbs and changing object and subject prepositions.
They thought English had decayed from its Latin roots, had stopped obeying rules of grammar and they needed to be reinstated, like preposition "whom" for the object and "who" for the subject. "Whom" was an invented word that never before had been spoken, "who" works perfectly well. "While" and "whilst" mean the same, whilst sounds posh, but is just a later version of the old English word "while" and no one is going to misunderstand what you are saying either way.
Grammar as needed for spoken language to be understood is learnt intuitively and need never be written down except for helping foreigners learn the language. We are just slaves to the whim of some fossilised old farts who wrote some arbitrary rules down 200 years ago which genteel society took to heart allowing them to distinguish themselves from the illiterate hoi polloi.
For the grammar nazis: "while using three phones at once", or "whilst using three phones at once"?
Just finished listening to an audio book on language and have completely changed my attitude to grammar.
Real language is the spoken variety, not what appears in print. Writing down an account for others to read is no different to translating from one language to another. Many of our grammar rules are arbitrary rules set down by 18c academics raised on Latin and Greek and infatuated with its grammatical rules for declining verbs and changing object and subject prepositions.
They thought English had decayed from its Latin roots, had stopped obeying rules of grammar and they needed to be reinstated, like preposition "whom" for the object and "who" for the subject. "Whom" was an invented word that never before had been spoken, "who" works perfectly well. "While" and "whilst" mean the same, whilst sounds posh, but is just a later version of the old English word "while" and no one is going to misunderstand what you are saying either way.
Grammar as needed for spoken language to be understood is learnt intuitively and need never be written down except for helping foreigners learn the language. We are just slaves to the whim of some fossilised old farts who wrote some arbitrary rules down 200 years ago which genteel society took to heart allowing them to distinguish themselves from the illiterate hoi polloi.
Yeah... but why did he have three phones?
(Edit, just kidding: that's actually a great post, and one I shall use in defence whenever my grammar is picked on! )
For the grammar nazis: "while using three phones at once", or "whilst using three phones at once"?
Just finished listening to an audio book on language and have completely changed my attitude to grammar.
Real language is the spoken variety, not what appears in print. Writing down an account for others to read is no different to translating from one language to another. Many of our grammar rules are arbitrary rules set down by 18c academics raised on Latin and Greek and infatuated with its grammatical rules for declining verbs and changing object and subject prepositions.
They thought English had decayed from its Latin roots, had stopped obeying rules of grammar and they needed to be reinstated, like preposition "whom" for the object and "who" for the subject. "Whom" was an invented word that never before had been spoken, "who" works perfectly well. "While" and "whilst" mean the same, whilst sounds posh, but is just a later version of the old English word "while" and no one is going to misunderstand what you are saying either way.
Grammar as needed for spoken language to be understood is learnt intuitively and need never be written down except for helping foreigners learn the language. We are just slaves to the whim of some fossilised old farts who wrote some arbitrary rules down 200 years ago which genteel society took to heart allowing them to distinguish themselves from the illiterate hoi polloi.
Yeah... but why did he have three phones?
(Edit, just kidding: that's actually a great post, and one I shall use in defence whenever my grammar is picked on! )
Comments
I felt well clever for a moment.
3 phones? How many ears has this bloke got then?
3 the same as Spock, the left ear, the right ear and the final front ear.
Oh come on, Greenie. I was at least expecting a 'Pardon?'
Remember two copies of Horse and Hounds down the back of your underpants, these boys take a run up!
Sorry mate! honestly, I really am.........!
In fact if I could flag myself, I would......!
Real language is the spoken variety, not what appears in print. Writing down an account for others to read is no different to translating from one language to another. Many of our grammar rules are arbitrary rules set down by 18c academics raised on Latin and Greek and infatuated with its grammatical rules for declining verbs and changing object and subject prepositions.
They thought English had decayed from its Latin roots, had stopped obeying rules of grammar and they needed to be reinstated, like preposition "whom" for the object and "who" for the subject. "Whom" was an invented word that never before had been spoken, "who" works perfectly well. "While" and "whilst" mean the same, whilst sounds posh, but is just a later version of the old English word "while" and no one is going to misunderstand what you are saying either way.
Grammar as needed for spoken language to be understood is learnt intuitively and need never be written down except for helping foreigners learn the language. We are just slaves to the whim of some fossilised old farts who wrote some arbitrary rules down 200 years ago which genteel society took to heart allowing them to distinguish themselves from the illiterate hoi polloi.
(Edit, just kidding: that's actually a great post, and one I shall use in defence whenever my grammar is picked on!
As @cabbles has pointed out, having 3 phones is a bit of an alarm bell in itself.