Teacher Discussion Forums

Why would single quotes be better? As you know single quotes are more permissive . The readers first thought with double quotes is that the words within the quotation marks are being cited, and this clarity distracts the reader from realizing the pun. The single quotes suggests the possibility of c...

I think the double quote " " is confusing. Maybe single quotes: 'Lots' of cars.

A better way that doesn't misapply punctuation might be to use italics, bold or even colour.


Warmest Regards,

My Dingaling

Dear Jann, Interesting topic! :) Presently there is a tendency to place adverbs at the head of sentences that the writer/speaker would like to persuade the support of the listener/reader: Eg. Truly. Mainly... Reliably... Interestingly..... The climax grammar form may be used to frame corrections int...

I've just been reading My Dingaling's posts on the Audio-lingual Approach. His style there is so different that I think that here he's taking us all for a bit of a ride - unless it's feeling subjected to an ideological campaign that's rendered his prose here apoplectic :twisted: . Cheers Norm Certa...

Thanks Duncan and others for the excellent help! :) However, there is one other problem with using 'they' or 'their' as a pronoun. What about the reflexive? Ex The Dingaling fell down and hurt themselves. 'Themselves' definately doesn't work. It would have to be 'himself or herself'. I think a prono...

This post may be negative sounding, but points I strongly feel should be considered. Implementing the Lexical Approach was a disappointing follow up to The Lexical Approach. There is really nothing new in the exercises in Implementing The Lexical Approach, and looking for material similar to it is s...

Yes, I know there is a clash but 'they' is being used for a pronoun for a singular human subject with an unknown gender. I will give you better example; Ex1 When the Dingaling leaves the room then he or she must turn off the lights. 'Dingaling' is a specific person with an unknown gender, and I woul...

I have a question about what to use as the correct pronoun that means either a man or woman in cases where the gender is not known. In spoken English I hear people using 'they' or 'their'. Written English one can use 'one', but I find myself writing and saying 'they' and 'their' more naturally and u...

To go back to your question on who is the clearest writer, ironically October and My Dingaling seem to write as clearly as everyone else. They say they don't write in plain English, but they do. Of course my Dingaling writes using some plain English, but my Dingaling is not launching or advocating ...

Dear Andrew Patterson, Insurance is not bought from a lawyer, thus needn't be written in legal form. It is a contract, falls under contract law and contracts can be written and agreed upon without the services of a lawyer. Why do you persist in your attempts to identify plain English with the legal ...

He is the greatest man that has ever lived. In this sentence can I also use who instead of that, like He is the greatest man who has ever lived. I've learned that I should use that , not who or whom when there's a superlative in the noun followed by relative pronoun. But I can see the second senten...

Dear Stephen Jones Just as many people know 'fail to comply' as ' disobey', maybe more. The plain English campaign is not only pompous itself, but truly degenerate because of its lower standards of English usage. There is nothing convoluted about legal English any more than there is about Business E...

October, I dare you to tell me that the following is not pompose: Whereas a hedge situate at Dean Road, Morton belonging to you overhangs the highway known as Dean Road, Morton aforesaid so as to endanger or obstruct the passage of pedestrians. Now therefore the Council in pursuence of section 134 ...

Thanks for an interesting post, MyDingaling. Sorry, I could not quite grasp what exactly do you man by "dangers to the native language" of the grammartranslation approach. I feel that more danger is not to learner's native, but to TARGET language. This is where the grammar-translation does the most...