Thursday Thoughts # 88
from Changing Nature, book three of The Immortals Descendants series by April White:
"He spoke quietly, and it was in the kind of voice that shut everyone else up."
from The Beekeeper's Secret, by Josephine Moon:
"So many people taking time to think things through. It was as if life had hit the pause button and was waiting for each of them to choose the next scene to go to."
From Waging War, book four of The Immortals Descendants series by April White:
"...because that path led to insecurity, which hung out and drank tea with pointless things like jealousy on a regular basis."
Today's Thought: Grammar
Grammar, grammar, grammar.
Let's be clear from the beginning, I am not an English teacher.
In fact I'm not a teacher of any sort.
Although I did manage to teach my kids their colours and numbers before they started school, also left from right, and, most importantly, if they were going to throw their lunch sandwiches to the dog they should unwrap them first.
Dogs don't have opposable thumbs and can't undo gladwrap.
Getting back to grammar...it's a nit-picky thing which annoys the heck out of me:
People using "of" where they should be using "have" or "with"
should of = WRONG
could of = WRONG
would of = WRONG
had of = WRONG
bored of = WRONG
I know how this has happened.
In speech "should have, could have, would have", have all been abbreviated to should've, could've, would've which in turn sounds like "should of" etc and this is why people are now writing "should of" etc instead of "should have".
It's bugging me!
"Had of" is a little different. The original is "had to have", which became "had to've", then "had to of" and eventually became "had of".
And it's wrong.
Or if you prefer, it is wrong. (no abbreviations)
"Bored of" should be "bored with".
I have no idea how "bored of" came to be in use, but it is wrong.
Please change it.
Alright then, over to you.
Discuss.
"He spoke quietly, and it was in the kind of voice that shut everyone else up."
from The Beekeeper's Secret, by Josephine Moon:
"So many people taking time to think things through. It was as if life had hit the pause button and was waiting for each of them to choose the next scene to go to."
From Waging War, book four of The Immortals Descendants series by April White:
"...because that path led to insecurity, which hung out and drank tea with pointless things like jealousy on a regular basis."
Today's Thought: Grammar
Grammar, grammar, grammar.
Let's be clear from the beginning, I am not an English teacher.
In fact I'm not a teacher of any sort.
Although I did manage to teach my kids their colours and numbers before they started school, also left from right, and, most importantly, if they were going to throw their lunch sandwiches to the dog they should unwrap them first.
Dogs don't have opposable thumbs and can't undo gladwrap.
Getting back to grammar...it's a nit-picky thing which annoys the heck out of me:
People using "of" where they should be using "have" or "with"
should of = WRONG
could of = WRONG
would of = WRONG
had of = WRONG
bored of = WRONG
I know how this has happened.
In speech "should have, could have, would have", have all been abbreviated to should've, could've, would've which in turn sounds like "should of" etc and this is why people are now writing "should of" etc instead of "should have".
It's bugging me!
"Had of" is a little different. The original is "had to have", which became "had to've", then "had to of" and eventually became "had of".
And it's wrong.
Or if you prefer, it is wrong. (no abbreviations)
"Bored of" should be "bored with".
I have no idea how "bored of" came to be in use, but it is wrong.
Please change it.
Alright then, over to you.
Discuss.
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Well golly me but you're sounding like dear old Miz Goldsworthy who booted me off her blog every week. Then I'd make some flattering comment and she took me back. Very funny.
ReplyDeleteLanguage, as you'd know, is evolving all the time. Shakespeare is hard to read, Chaucer is worse. Common usage runs the show, what's wrong now could become okay.
Cliches irritate me, I hate cliches. A while back I sewed a few together: At the end of the day get your act together and know where you're coming from.
Cliches don't last. 'Where you're coming from' has died. It seemed smart at the time. What seems smart at the time usually isn't.
Now I have to think, do I get bored of or bored with. I don't really know, but for sure from now on it will be bored with.
ReplyDeleteHomophone errors drive me up the wall...not too sure any of your bug-a-boos would bother me much.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you, at times it is hard to pick whether someone says have or of.
ReplyDeleteYou could be a english teacher.
ReplyDeleteEnglish is and always will be my worst subject, spelling comes a close second so on that count I will say no more.
Merle..............
I think similarly to you, River.
ReplyDeleteI become very annoyed when I read/hear bad grammar; and I hate bad spelling, too!
When I discover I'm guilty of either misdemeanour I'm tougher on myself for making the error than anyone else could possibly be!
(Please note...there is a "u" in "misdemeanour" in the English spelling; but no "u" in the US spelling of the word....just in case some might think I'm spelling the word incorrectly)! :)
R.H Miz Goldsworthy sounds like a sensible woman.
ReplyDeleteI know language is evolving, but at this point in time (useless cliche), people should still be aware of the origins of abbreviations and construct their sentences accordingly.
joeh; it's definitely with.
Grace; I'm not sure what Homophone is, I'll google it in a minute. I know I'm being a bit picky here, but this does irritate me.
Andrew; in speech it is hard to pick, but when writing it should be correct. The problem is becoming entrenched because children are learning this from their parents.
Merle; English was one of my top subjects, equal with history and beaten only by math.
Lee; hearing bad grammar isn't so bad because it's there and gone, but written work is there forever, so it needs to be right.
The difference in English and American spelling is a minor irritation, the dropped 'U', the 'Z' instead of "S",it's the way they do things, like a whole different language. But I probably couldn't fault their grammar.
The difference in English and US spelling of certain words isn't an irritation to me, River. I understand the differences, and accept them; but I still use English as I was taught; the English version, not the US version.
DeleteI was bringing attention my own spelling in case anyone from the US reading this thought I was talking through my hat and had written the word incorrectly.
I'd then have to eat my words if that was the case! :)
I prefer to use my learned English spelling too.
DeleteGrace; googled and got it, words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. I thought that's what it was, but haven't heard the word homophone often, so thought it best to check.
ReplyDeleteMiz Goldsworthy is a vain old fool, she got married and thought consummation was the wedding feast, so when the old professor tried to get her bloomers off she screamed the hotel down. She's a pedant, and that's good for a laugh, but no pedant of language ever wrote anything interesting. She's a grammarian, good, but was terrified of the professor's definite article. I'd be willing to put my hand down her front to check her semi colon but she'd holler for the cops. Cats and good English is where they end up, these poor old things. Your theory on abbreviations is good but falls down on "had of". There's no "had've". Poor RH left school at fourteen never reaching secondary level, I used to regret never going to university but when I see the utter trash on this internet written by graduates I'm very glad of it.
ReplyDeleteI hate, hate , hate "on accident"
ReplyDeleteIt's "on purpose" and "by accident" or "accidentally"
R.H. read tat paragraph again. I've explained had've from had to have quite clearly.
ReplyDeleteno-one; yes, that annoys me greatly too. Nice to see you here.
ooops, a typo to R.H. - should be "that".
ReplyDeleteNice thoughts today. Your checking my grammar aren't you:) ? Canadians do spell with a lot of U's some grammar humour, just so you know:):) eh!!!Love the quotes. HUG B
ReplyDeleteDid you notice the your checking ? Grammar mistake:) you're is right....I am pretty sure:) Hug B
DeleteButtons; not only your grammar, there's others who are getting it wrong. The missing "U" is a spelling difference, not grammatical, and it's fine with me. Americans are developing their own language, sort of. Your and you're is grammatical and I did notice you'd put the wrong one. Interesting that Canadians and Americans are so different in this aspect, given they are so close together as countries. I suppose it's much like Europe where all those little countries have their own languages.
DeleteCan say I haven't (have not) heard of some of what you have written. It annoys me as well when England's/Australian English is written incorrectly (I sometimes do as in error).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking English is another issue - I'm always correcting someone, not that I'm that good myself!
You're confused, they're past and present tenses of the same word. "Had to have" is not the origin of "had of" (denoting action). "Had of" is poor speech, that's all, the "of" being unecessary.
ReplyDeletePeople generally say "I'd" ("If I'd") as abbreviation.
If I had of-------Wrong.
If I'd------------Correct.
Margaret-whiteangel; English is tricky enough without it devolving into such poor depths. I don't correct people's speech unless they are immigrants and have asked me to help them learn.
ReplyDeleteI do make mistakes myself, but try hard not to and if it's written work I'll proofread and correct most of the time.
R.H. I may very well be confused and at this point I don't care.