must have, should have, could have, would have - aaaaargh

SexyGreyFox · 27 Jan 2011 at 17:24

h00fzilla said:
You didn't tell us how much it annoys you!

Actually it's zero, I find it weird though.

Zefan · 27 Jan 2011 at 17:31

Deadbeat · 27 Jan 2011 at 17:52

secretspy said:
I'm not sure if it has been put in place across the entire country but whilst my niece was still in primary school (about 3/4 years ago) it was changed so that teachers could only mark one/two spelling/grammar mistakes in a child's homework otherwise it might "upset the child"

I believe they also said they could no longer put an X next to the mistake for the same reason.
I was under the impression that teachers were there to teach the child but if they can't correct them, how can the child ever learn?

I remember reading about a local school telling its teachers that they had to mark in green ink, not red, as red is seen as being critical - kind of the whole point of marking, really. If you get it wrong, you get criticised so you don't get it wrong again.

Dirk · 27 Jan 2011 at 18:10

Saw a good one the other day. Somebody accused someone else of being "mellow dramatic".

Thunderbolt · 27 Jan 2011 at 18:10

Thought this thread was going to be about system requirements.

SexyGreyFox · 27 Jan 2011 at 18:22

Deadbeat said:
I remember reading about a local school telling its teachers that they had to mark in green ink, not red, as red is seen as being critical - kind of the whole point of marking, really. If you get it wrong, you get criticised so you don't get it wrong again.

Mrs Poole can confirm that she has to mark in green pen.
She also says that marking spelling mistakes can vary from school to school but it also depends on what the learning objective is.
For instance a child's objective might only be getting a capital at the start of the sentence and a full stop at the end and they won't be marked on anything else.

ElvisFan · 27 Jan 2011 at 18:49

Dj_Jestar said:
Oh, and as for OP, other gripes of mine are the declining use of "nor" and people who pronounce "ask" as "arks". Blood boiling, right here.

I use "nor" all the time, though being a northern monkey it is usually pronounced as " n' ", as in, "Neither use n'ornament."

Dj_Jestar · 27 Jan 2011 at 20:00

ElvisFan said:
I use "nor" all the time, though being a northern monkey it is usually pronounced as " n' ", as in, "Neither use n'ornament."

You sure that isn't an abbreviation of "an" in that context?

"Neither use an ornament".

Makunouchi · 27 Jan 2011 at 20:11

Dj_Jestar said:
Since when has the definition of "of" become that of "have"?

Yeah yeah, as soon as dmpoole clarified he was talking about written English specifically my posts were pretty much superfluous. I still think I have a point about spoken English however.

SexyGreyFox · 27 Jan 2011 at 20:21

Makunouchi said:
Yeah yeah, as soon as dmpoole clarified he was talking about written English specifically my posts were pretty much superfluous. I still think I have a point about spoken English however.

I noticed today that I actually say 'I would eh done that' or 'I should eh gone there'.

dekez · 27 Jan 2011 at 20:39

Makunouchi said:
Yeah yeah, as soon as dmpoole clarified he was talking about written English specifically my posts were pretty much superfluous. I still think I have a point about spoken English however.

I think you made a very good point about language evolving.

It's also worth noting that there are different levels of language used in society, most of what is deemed to be "correct" English is dictated by the higher classes; newspapers (maybe to a lesser extent now), publishers and scholars.

There will always be the uneducated and middle classes that use the language differently, but fundamental changes will generally be a lot slower to catch on and evolve than more common slang and colloquialism. Words which were in vogue one year may be gone the next, but something that slowly catches on and ends up being used by the higher levels is likely to become "correct" English.

Forums highlight the diversity in English education levels extremely well, but you are unlikely to have somebody speaking on here in text speak to be writing a scientific journal.

stopper · 27 Jan 2011 at 20:59

Dirk said:
Saw a good one the other day. Somebody accused someone else of being "mellow dramatic".

ElvisFan · 27 Jan 2011 at 23:36

Dj_Jestar said:
You sure that isn't an abbreviation of "an" in that context? "Neither use an ornament".

No. The correct saying is, "Neither use nor ornament".

Dj_Jestar · 28 Jan 2011 at 10:43

ElvisFan said:
No. The correct saying is, "Neither use nor ornament".

Ah, gotcha.

So would "Neither this nor that" would become "Neither this n'that"?

Bennie-Mac · 28 Jan 2011 at 11:07

Castiel said:
September 1986.

Looks at birthday...feels terrible...

Deleted member 77746 · 28 Jan 2011 at 11:21

DAIR said:
I blame the internet and mobile phones.

I agree.

Deleted member 77746 · 28 Jan 2011 at 11:22

Dirk said:
Saw a good one the other day. Somebody accused someone else of being "mellow dramatic".

You did?

Keyser Soze · 28 Jan 2011 at 11:40

secretspy said:
Another popular one is bought and brought. "i brought a new TV today" I will normally reply with "where did you bring it from?" which completely confuses the person.

I still can't understand how people make this mistake.

Is it a common spelling error or would they actually speak the wrong word too?

I have never heard anyone say it wrong.

whitecrook · 28 Jan 2011 at 11:56

I of 10 fingers on my hands. I also of driven to work today.

^^^^

What... wait you mean to say I should use the word have instead of have? or should that be have of? NO WAI

ps now i've typed the word have a few times it seems weird.

platinum87 · 28 Jan 2011 at 16:08

vonhelmet said:
Besides, we've had a thread in which we concluded that some people use "a couple" colloquially in the same way people use "a few".

Yea sure some people do whatever they do, it doesn't mean they stop being wrong?

Point out other peoples mistakes all the time, make mistake yourself ---> commit suicide.