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apprentice
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:29 am
Post subject: Explanation |
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Dear Friends,
You could have an impression that I am a lazy guy who wants to ask you silly
question. However, it is quite opposite.
My interest is almost always focused on usage. What I mean is, if a phrase I
present is in common use or not. Therefore, whatever I bring here is always
connected with common use. Moreover, before I ask you anything I always
check the meaning either using Cambridge Dictionary on line or
www.onelook.com.
Finally, feel comletely free to comment on any of my punctuation mistakes.
It is one of my biggest problems linked with defining and non-defining
clauses and deriving from the fact that in Polish we use comas more often
and it is quite confusing for me.
Regards,
Pawel |
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:41 am
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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At 23:29:34 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> wrote in
<4687f$4377be4f$d4ba586d$14794@news.chello.pl>:
| Quote: | Finally, feel comletely free to comment on any of my punctuation mistakes.
It is one of my biggest problems linked with defining and non-defining
clauses and deriving from the fact that in Polish we use comas more often
|
Not comas, commas.
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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John Briggs
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:56 am
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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Molly Mockford wrote:
| Quote: | At 23:29:34 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> wrote in
4687f$4377be4f$d4ba586d$14794@news.chello.pl>:
Finally, feel comletely free to comment on any of my punctuation
mistakes. It is one of my biggest problems linked with defining and
non-defining clauses and deriving from the fact that in Polish we
use comas more often
Not comas, commas.
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There's a nice Dilbert along those lines: the office pedant collapses,
struck down by a typo in his report. "Is she dead?" "No, she's in a
comma!"
--
John Briggs |
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John of Aix
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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Molly Mockford wrote:
| Quote: | At 23:29:34 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> wrote in
4687f$4377be4f$d4ba586d$14794@news.chello.pl>:
Finally, feel comletely free to comment on any of my punctuation
mistakes. It is one of my biggest problems linked with defining and
non-defining clauses and deriving from the fact that in Polish we
use comas more often
Not comas, commas.
|
Are you sure? I hear they sell a fair old quantity of Vodka over there
 |
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Young Sociolinguist
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 1:42 am
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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I am sorry that I'm not writing to you in our beautiful mother tongue,
but I want also other people to understand. Being an experienced
student of English, I can tell you that what is common, is not always
considered correct and the other way round. Lots of people in the UK
say "ain't" or drop their /h/s (in pronunciation, that is), however no
handbook of English will ever tell you these are correct. On the other
hand, I know some words and phrases which are commonly taught, but
seldom used, such as 'to rain cats and dogs', an expression apparently
known to relatively few natives. The tricky clauses you have mentioned
are explained in every good handbook of grammar and on several
websites. Generally, non-native speakers of English are expected to
speak and write Standard English, but be able to understand some
supralocal non-standard forms. I hope my remarks have been of use. |
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Ivan
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 2:05 am
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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Young Sociolinguist wrote:
| Quote: | I am sorry that I'm not writing to you in our beautiful mother tongue,
but I want also other people to understand. Being an experienced
student of English, I can tell you that what is common, is not always
considered correct and the other way round. Lots of people in the UK
say "ain't" or drop their /h/s (in pronunciation, that is), however no
handbook of English will ever tell you these are correct. On the other
hand, I know some words and phrases which are commonly taught, but
seldom used, such as 'to rain cats and dogs',
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Be sure you don't step on a poodle.
I think this expression is known to nearly every native speaker of
English. Perhaps it is not used very often because it is seen as quaint
or old-fashioned.
Ivan |
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Tony Mountifield
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:08 pm
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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In article <1132576420.238312.184290@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Young Sociolinguist <spooky.fm@interia.pl> wrote:
| Quote: | It wasn't exactly my idea. An English teacher from Wales I met in
England told me that the idiom 'it's raining cats and dogs' was
something he had never used or heard in everyday life, but often
encountered in handbooks, so this is his opinion rather than mine.
|
It was an everyday expression when I was a child in the 1960s in
the south of England. I have always remembered a short humorous
poem that my best friend in junior school wrote when we were about
10 or 11 years old:
----------------------------------------
It's raining cats - meow!
It's raining dogs - woof!
It's coming down in buckets - clang!
One hit me - oof!
(copyright 1968, Christopher Tweed)
----------------------------------------
Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org |
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Nick Wagg
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:27 pm
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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"Ivan" <vorotyntsev@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1132427109.319456.239320@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: |
Young Sociolinguist wrote:
I am sorry that I'm not writing to you in our beautiful mother tongue,
but I want also other people to understand. Being an experienced
student of English, I can tell you that what is common, is not always
considered correct and the other way round. Lots of people in the UK
say "ain't" or drop their /h/s (in pronunciation, that is), however no
handbook of English will ever tell you these are correct. On the other
hand, I know some words and phrases which are commonly taught, but
seldom used, such as 'to rain cats and dogs',
Be sure you don't step on a poodle.
I think this expression is known to nearly every native speaker of
English. Perhaps it is not used very often because it is seen as quaint
or old-fashioned.
|
It is a joke response to the expression "it's raining cats and dogs".
We also say "raining stair rods" although this is slightly less common
because stair rods are rarely used these days. They were about 2 to 3
feet long (that's 70-100cm but you should be familiar with imperial units
in the English speaking world) metal rods (typically brass) which held a
stair carpet against stairs. |
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Young Sociolinguist
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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It wasn't exactly my idea. An English teacher from Wales I met in
England told me that the idiom 'it's raining cats and dogs' was
something he had never used or heard in everyday life, but often
encountered in handbooks, so this is his opinion rather than mine.
Similarly, there exist numerous examples of communication problems
resulting from using typically British words in America, etc. Of
course, there are loads of Polish words I've never heard, because they
are technical, regional or old-fashioned. I'm grateful that someone has
provided a counterargument to what I've thought was completely true. |
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Young Sociolinguist
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 7:35 pm
Post subject: Re: Explanation |
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It wasn't exactly my idea. An English teacher from Wales I met in
England told me that the idiom 'it's raining cats and dogs' was
something he had never used or heard in everyday life, but often
encountered in handbooks, so this is his opinion rather than mine.
Similarly, there exist numerous examples of communication problems
resulting from using typically British words in America, etc. Of
course, there are loads of Polish words I've never heard, because they
are technical, regional or old-fashioned. I'm grateful that someone has
provided a counterargument to what I've thought was completely true. |
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