Job Discussion Forums

Sashadroogie

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14130854

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:56 pm Post subject:

Dear Sasha,

Not only spelling:

" . . . warned that too many employers were having to invest in remedial literacy lessons for their staff."

At least I've always thought that the modal helping verb "have/has to" is non-continuous - though I suppose that might be an "American English/British English difference.

and

" . . . Mr Duncombe, who runs travel, mobile phones and clothing websites, . . . ."

Hmm, first time I've heard of "mobile clothing" - I think a comma after "phones" would have been nice.

and

"I know that industry bemoaning the education system is nothing new . . . "

Shouldn't the subject of the gerund "bemoaning" be possessive (i.e. industry's.)

"When recruiting school and university leavers, Mr Duncombe says too many applications have contained spelling mistakes or poor grammar."

Poor grammar such as, say, misplaced adverbial phrases?

How about punctuation? ""Our recent research shows that 42% of employers are not satisfied with the basic reading and writing skills of school and college leavers and almost half have had to invest in remedial training to get their staff's skills up to scratch.

"This situation is a real concern and the government must make the improvement of basic literacy and numeracy skills of all school and college leavers a top priority."

Two rather long compound sentences with no commas before the coordinate conjunctions.

That's from a very quick proofread - I likely missed even more.

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:58 pm Post subject:

Dear Johnslat

Not sure I can go along with all your criticisms, especially the one pertaining to 'having to' ( a semi-modal, I believe), but there is no doubt that things are not what they used to be in the sacred halls of the BBC. Standards have slipped dramatically, especially on the website. Ah! The irony. So multi-layered!

Perhaps there's an opportunity for an 'entreprenurial' TEFLer

?

Sasha

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:03 pm Post subject:

Dear Sasha,

Ah, so you are having to disagree with me. However, I am having to agree with you about have/has to's not really being a modal (although it's often grouped with the modals in many textbooks.)

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:23 pm Post subject:

Dear Johnslat

We had better be respecting the rules when we write comments on a forum - another example of a continuous semi-modal construction, as in this American newspaper headline:

'The Washington Post Had Better Be Joking With This One.'

http://governingpeople.com/testariherzog/13354/washington-post-had-better-be-joking-one%E2%80%A6except-they%E2%80%99re-not%E2%80%A6

Sasha

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:33 pm Post subject:

Dear Sasha,

But why would you want to use the present continuous form

"We had better be respecting the rules . . . "

when you're writing about a usual action?

" . . . when we write comments on a forum . . ."

Regards,

John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:46 pm Post subject:

Dear Johnslat

I was echoing your own free (mis)use of such continuous forms, and then immediately following up with a perfectly valid use, from the headline.

I guess I am just in contrary humour today. The Moscow city fathers have seen fit to cut my hot water supply for a week, while they make their annual repairs to the central heating system. The engineers had better be working overtime to get it back by next week...grrr!

Sasha

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:05 pm Post subject:

Dear Sasha,

Oh, I hope you are not having to take cold showers (though they're very good for vodka hangovers, or so I'm told. Very Happy

)

Regards,
John

Captain_Fil · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:52 am Post subject:

Spelling mistakes on websites?!

Hasn't anyone heard of Spell Check?

Rolling Eyes

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:30 am Post subject:

The more I think about it, the more I am having to concede that cold showers are not such a bad thing. After such a bracing early morning experience, a shot of restorative spirits cannot easily be denied. Good way to start the day. Sets you up till lunch time.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:31 am Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I am thinking you people are writing nonsenses.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:02 pm Post subject:

Dear scot47,

Funny - you don't LOOK Indian/Pakistani. Very Happy

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:22 pm Post subject:

We need to go to Facebook to find people who can really spell:

http://www.happyplace.com/3645/the-best-obnoxious-responses-to-misspellings-on-facebook

Captain_Fil · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject: