The set structure was governed by what you achieved in English and Maths. What made me feel more for those in "support" was they might have been half decent at the more fun "humanities" subjects. Instead they were consigned automatically to Foundation papers which made a GCSE grade C almost impossible to achieve.
And have you had any replies? More to the point. Would they be interested in the more mature Scottish gent? BTW I’m only asking for a friend.
While you're right that languages are constantly evolving, it tends to be on the level of vocabulary, first and foremost. Grammar evolves much more slowly, and "could of" is wrong not just lexically, but also grammatically. The word "have" is essential to form the past tense of the verbs "could", "may", "might", "should", and "ought to". Not only that, but the same grammatical construction is used when we talk about recent past actions - for example "I have just shut the window." So for "I could of just shut the window" to become acceptable English, the phrase "I of just shut the window" would also have to be deemed correct, which I can't see happening. Apologies for the extremely anal reply, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that that we're probably safe, at least from this particular monstrosity. However, there are plenty of lexical usages which are now accepted, which sound pretty awful to my pedantic ear. "To action something" and "new technologies" are just two recent additions to the common English vernacular which I think we would definitely be better off without!
While we're on the subject - PRE. Pre means prior or before. If you order something it's called ordering. If you are ordering something that is not yet available it's not pre-ordering, it's simply ordering something not yet in stock or available. Pre-ordering is what you do before you make an order, making your tea, browsing the interwebs, winking etc. Same goes for pre-pay and pre-prepared.
Yeah, no i fink chickin bolti pies from oakwel r gud. So bone apple tea. O n Strendle shudda played hassel n steel more
One thing that gets my goat is double negatives.......he's not going nowhere.......like fingernails on a blackboard. All a bit anal really......I try really to ignore......oh my god I just split my infinitive......shoot me now!
BUT what about this----.......... 'Person who can sing two notes at once...... As singer Anne-Maria Hefele states, “overtone singing is a voice technique where one person sings two notes at the same time.” This is accomplished by manipulating the placement of your tongue and the shape of your mouth. Such manipulation produces a low note and a high note.' Technically though, two notes are merely 'harmony' as two-note groups are not considered chords. Of course you are right re the use of the anatomical name. While we are on the subject of word confusion... practise (verb) and practice (noun) and also license (verb) and licence (noun) are 'biggies'. My easy way to remember is that licenCe = N(oun) and both letters (C&N) precede (S&V) licen(S)e=V (verb) in the alphabet. My wife (an ex teacher) is a fully paid up member of the 'grammar police' Her pet hate is using 'less' in a sentence when it should be 'fewer' something I am often guilty of (albeit only in conversation). Boy! does she let me know I have got it wrong.... again!! Mixing up words though are less important IMO than grammar and punctuation. A misplaced comma or phrase can completely change a meaning and in legal or financial documents that could be catastrophic!
A large part of my income is from teaching English and translation, so I don't really have much choice in the matter, unfortunately!
