Collective Nouns
Mar 4th 2009, 1:09 pm
#19
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Re: Collective Nouns
What would you expect from a bunch of convicts?
Mar 4th 2009, 1:39 pm
#24
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Re: Collective Nouns
Jeez, if youz were in NZ youz'd be lynched, eh?
By the way, until recently it was unacceptable to use "their", as opposed to "his or her", in written communication at least, but nowadays people like things to be less cumbersome. Likewise, once upon a time you weren't allowed to end a sentence in a prepostion, but now it's commonplace. Language evolves. Oral language is different to spoken. Cultural differences place the emphasis on different things.
By the way, until recently it was unacceptable to use "their", as opposed to "his or her", in written communication at least, but nowadays people like things to be less cumbersome. Likewise, once upon a time you weren't allowed to end a sentence in a prepostion, but now it's commonplace. Language evolves. Oral language is different to spoken. Cultural differences place the emphasis on different things.
Mar 4th 2009, 2:06 pm
#26
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Re: Collective Nouns
Jeez, if youz were in NZ youz'd be lynched, eh?
By the way, until recently it was unacceptable to use "their", as opposed to "his or her", in written communication at least, but nowadays people like things to be less cumbersome. Likewise, once upon a time you weren't allowed to end a sentence in a prepostion, but now it's commonplace. Language evolves. Oral language is different to spoken. Cultural differences place the emphasis on different things.
By the way, until recently it was unacceptable to use "their", as opposed to "his or her", in written communication at least, but nowadays people like things to be less cumbersome. Likewise, once upon a time you weren't allowed to end a sentence in a prepostion, but now it's commonplace. Language evolves. Oral language is different to spoken. Cultural differences place the emphasis on different things.
Mar 4th 2009, 2:29 pm
#27
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Re: Collective Nouns
Oral language is different to spoken language in that you would not write in an essay, or a letter, the same words in the same order that you speak.
What school did I go to? When I was at school you could not end a sentence in a preposition. Not ever. Since I started Uni as an adult student in NZ this is no longer the case - especially in creative writing, and often in journalism (and I understand this is the case in many other western countries, though often it still rankles to those of us over a certain age). It looks tidier and I still do it when writing for the local rag, but I am liberated in creative writing. What is acceptable does change culturally.
What school did I go to? When I was at school you could not end a sentence in a preposition. Not ever. Since I started Uni as an adult student in NZ this is no longer the case - especially in creative writing, and often in journalism (and I understand this is the case in many other western countries, though often it still rankles to those of us over a certain age). It looks tidier and I still do it when writing for the local rag, but I am liberated in creative writing. What is acceptable does change culturally.
Last edited by kiwinow; Mar 4th 2009 at 2:54 pm.
Mar 4th 2009, 2:37 pm
#28
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Re: Collective Nouns
Were you at school before Winnie said those words?
There are no rules in English. Your teachers at school teach rules because that is the easiest way to teach, but even in those days this was a nonsense rule. As is starting a sentence with a conjunction.
The difference between written and spoken language is of course important. Written language has to be understood via what appears on the page, whereas spoken language is embellished by tone of voice, stress, facial expression and body language.
Consider the sentence:
look out
Without punctuation you don't know whether I'm inviting you to look out the window, or warning you that standing by the window is a bad idea. In spoken language this confusion cannot occur.
The Ecole Francaise decided to impose rules on French. As a result French is a dying language.
Mar 4th 2009, 2:39 pm
#29
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Re: Collective Nouns
Do you mean dialect? I speak with a Nottingham accent and sometimes say "Ay up me duck" as a greeting. Obviously I don't start letter like that.
