Tuesday, July 31, 2012

"How I perceive we as educated people"

Yes, you figured out correctly: the reason I have this in the title is that the pronoun used here (we) is grammatically incorrect.  In the phrase "how I perceive," I is the subject, and the object of such perceiving should therefore be in the objective form, or "us."  Clear?

Friday, July 27, 2012

"Can you please stand and tell us your name"

Can requests asks if one is able to stand.  The correct request should be "Would you please stand..."

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Question of Syntax

In the sentence, "The operative site was verified with the patient, and informed consent was found to be in the chart in the preoperative holding area," the phrase "in the preoperative holding area" is misplaced, and implies that the chart was in the preoperative holding area.  The sentence should better read as "The operative site was verified with the patient in the preoperative holding area, and informed consent was found to be in the chart."  This states that the operative site was verified with the patient while the patient was in the preoperative holding area.

"I'm knew here" and "many agency's and companies"

It has been suggested that spelling be done away with.  Children are no longer required to spell correctly in school -- if it sounds phonetic, then spell it however you like.  Between this new policy, and the ubiquitous texting, it's a wonder that anyone learns to read, much less write! 

I am a stickler for correct spelling and correct English usage, and yet I have often been maligned for pointing out errors.  At Toastmasters, if I take the role of grammarian, I am in an accepted position to critique and otherwise offer suggestions and point out errors.  However, in other situations, I am taken to task.  To wit: "I'm knew here" was written by someone as an introduction on LinkedIn in the eBook group.  She took offense at my pointing out her error, with someone else chiming in, encouraging us all to relax.  No doubt, relaxing is a great idea, but when one is promoting one's talents as a writer, one would expect that person to know how to spell.  Relaxing is not such a wonderful idea.  Our educational system in the United States is extremely poor, and our standing in the world is not much celebrated.  Moreover, LinkedIn is a venue for professionals.  Surely one's image might be diminished if one "relaxes" one's standards that much?  If it was a matter of an obscure word that was misspelled, I would have been quite relaxed about it, and not made a point of it; but the difference between new and knew is egregious.  This is kindergarten level.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Watch your pronunciation

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="185"]pronunciation pronunciation (Photo credit: Peter Forret)[/caption]

English words such as incision, present, position and measured are pronounced with a presumed "z" substituted for the middle "s."  That means that incision is pronounced INCIZION, present is pronounced PREZENT, position is pronounced POZITION and measured is pronounced MEAZURED.

I sometimes hear people say the above words -- and others of similar ilk -- as if the central s were a c, as in POCITION, INCICION, PRECENT and MEASHURED - the s in measured is pronounced as a z.  It sounds horrible pronounced as an sh, especially when spoken by a native-born American.  C'mon!  "By ussing this technique..."  This is especially inexcusable when spoken by native English speakers.

In fact, it is not English.  Just as in French one should learn to pronounce "u" and "eu," so should it be in English and other languages.