Grammar-Mah-Mah

'Help others'

2009-10-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

This sign is ambiguous without any supporting visuals. The Object needs to be added to make the instruction clearer i.e. 'Please do not help yourself to the push-cart.'

Almost did it

2009-10-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Late entry because I had to go all the way to England and Australia
just to take photos for AAE104.
(Requirement for this statement to be true : Do not look at the dates.)

Almost did what that signboard says(thanks to vandalism) or I would have gained access to that red car. Or have I..?

2009-09-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, like some of us, I did not look for signs in Singapore.
I found the following sign on Photobucket.

I guessing that this sign was probably put up at an exit.

However the irony is, if it is only for Entrance, then why can't people enter? It is as good as telling others that this is a no entry area.

Lynn

2009-09-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hello I didn't find anything interesting in Singapore but I saw this signboard from the web http://sggeratberlin.blogspot.com/2009/06/very-impact-and-yet-funny-sign-board.html

I think it's funny because of the ambiguity in the sentence.

'Drop your pants here and you will receive prompt attention' can mean that the customer can bring his dirty pants and the shop assistants will attend to him quickly to help him wash his pants.

'Drop your pants here and you will receive prompt attention' can also mean that the customer will receive a lot of stares if he suddenly removes the pants he is wearing =)

- Cheryl

2009-09-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

took tis pic when I was still a relief teacher for biology at Chai Chee Secondary. It was at a toilet and I was rather amused by it.

Anyway, I couldn't find any interesting grammar ideas.. but tis should b ok?

The "TO enjoy a fuss free.." is a infinitive to.. this is so as the word that follows after the 'to" is a verb. there is a noun phrase, " a clean and fuss-free toilet" ..of which "toilet" is the head noun, "a" is the determiner and "clean and fuss-free" is a premodifier adjective.

error-free ads. NOT.

2009-09-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

Error would be in the word 'your'. Should actually be 'You're'.

Quite a lot of people can't actually differentiate between your and you're, their and they're. Hmms, could it be because they sound similar?

HAHAS! You can eat kids for free! Quite a lot of mistakes in this adverstisement. Should have been 'Kids get to eat for free'. '2 Kids per adult entree off the regular menu'. No idea what they're trying to say. Maybe, 2 kids are allowed to eat for free for every adult who orders from the regular menu? Sounds a little "bo-hua"(not worth it).

Within what? Think they mean proceed inside the shop for more questions.

-Denise Tan

Grammar Errors on Sign

2009-09-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

I found this from here.

This is a sign found at Boone, North Carolina.

We have 'caution trails' where 'trails' are being very careful...(haha)
And 'Dog is that must be on leash'!

Short Essay

2009-09-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this when I was walking along the corridors of NIE. I tried to correct it but I didn't really understand what the person was trying to say. I only know the word "Thueday" seemed to me like it should be spelled as Tuesday. I thought the first sentence should be: He liked my friends, boyfriends and will you still love me tomorrow, Tuesday?

Any suggestions or recommendations?

To everyone who's Smarter than a 5th Grader?

2009-09-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

I watched the game show 'Who's Smarter than a 5th Grader' recently and came across this 4th grade grammar question:
"What part of the sentence is the last word of the following sentence,'The paint spilled everywhere.'"
Guess! What is the word class of 'everywhere'?

It's......ADVERB! Applause to everyone who got it correct!
(FYI, the contestant thought it was a noun. Thankfully she was saved by the 5th grader)

In this case, 'everywhere' is an adverb because it modifies the verb 'spilled', describing where the paint spilled (tells us the place where the action is inflicted upon).

This set me thinking, what if the word 'everywhere' is placed in another part of a sentence. For example, in the following sentence, "Everywhere we went, the dog followed us," is 'everywhere' still an adverb, probably describing the verb 'went'.
So I checked the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, it states 3 different ways the word can be used, as an adverb, a pronoun or a conjunction.

In the example above, 'everywhere' is a conjunction because it joins two clauses together, 'the dog followed us' and 'we went'. I can reorder the two clauses to make the conjunction in the centre like this, 'The dog followed us everywhere we went.'

As a pronoun, 'everywhere' would be used like this: 'Everywhere is very quiet.' This is because 'everywhere' here replaces a noun or noun phrase of a place.

Hmm since, 'everywhere' can have 3 different word classes, what about the word 'everyone' like how it is used in the title of this post?

Meaning??

2009-09-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

This is just something very interesting which I saw in a male toilet and do not comprehend its meaning at all.

"Aren't I" vs "Am I not"

2009-09-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsdJ9HH_-3E

I was pretty surprised when I found out that the logically expected form 'aren't I' has never been part of standard English.
Hope you guys enjoy the video!

Jezreel

AED 105!

2009-09-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Here I am bored to death with the essay so I find a fault and post it up.

2009-09-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hello guys. Mine doesnt have any grammatical error, but its pretty funny so i decided to post it up. Saw this while visiting the toilet during my specialist appointment.

Was at the urinal by the way...

Common Sights

2009-09-19T03:49:00.001-07:00

I believe signs like these aren't uncommon to us. Nothing wrong with it, but I guess there could be several interpretations of this. Delights, I suppose to many, is taken as a noun. Could it be a verb as well, that Taiwan wants to make people happy?

So, Taiwan here is taken as a noun. As opposed to if we say Taiwanese Delights, whereby Taiwanese will be an adjective. Compare. The delights are from Taiwan, and the delights are Taiwanese.

Haven't managed to find anything more interesting so far, so I'll make do with this. Will post up a more thought-provoking picture next time. If I can find one, that is.

Ruth :)

1st Contribution

2009-09-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hi guys here's one I took using my phone last week at a temple... I wonder if "Silent" is meant as a noun or adjective...

Cheers

~Marc~

Here We Go

2009-09-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, I tried my best. I'm really not a blogging guru or whatsoever. Thanks Dr James for giving me this opportunity to venture into the unknown. Or rather my unknown. Anyway, thanks so much for accepting the invitations. I have granted admin privileges to you guys. Anyone who is the REAL celebrity blogger, please help us to add some "nice, sweet stuff" to this blog. ;)

Landy

It's Only Water and Sand