English standards have not slipped

[Ethel]

A joy to read a grammatically correct quote in today's paper:

"Then I had to call the local farmer, from whom I rent the field, to come and help me with the situation. He was able to tell them who I was and explain that I was renting the field from him."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-105978 0/Black-farmer-quizzed-police-THREE-times-susp icion-stealing-field.html

:)

[Bbbananas]

sorry - but it is always To Whom It May Concern.
It just is, ok?!

[Quinlad]

Tiger, just reword the sentence so that you avoid who or whom. You're right - neither sounds great.

[Hugh Spencer]

Hi,
I'm with Ethel all the way and one fault I do pick up on is starting a sentence with the conjunction 'and'. Shouldn't it be a continuation of the previous sentence?

[anotheoldgit]

Let's get this brackets thing clear, jno.

if the farmer didn't talk in brackets (so to speak) you shouldn't add any when quoting him;

Then I had to call the local farmer, (from whom I rent the field), to come and help me with the situation. He was able to tell them who I was and explain that I was renting the field from him.

This was the exact text taken from the report, not a sign of any quotation marks. I have only added the brackets to explain what I mean. Am I correct now, should I have used square brackets, curved or none at all?





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-105978 0/Black-farmer-quizzed-police-THREE-times-susp icion-stealing-field.html

:)

[Quinlad]

No. That was a rule for rules' sake. You could be introducing an entirely new thought that might benefit from the break that a full stop gives. If it helps to communicate the rhythm and emphasis that you'd get across using oral communication, then it's doing it's job. That's the point of punctuation. And I'm all for it.

[Quinlad]

My last post was meant for Hugh.

However, I think Rosetta's point, AOG, was that you'd be better of removing the clause entirely. The very next sentence contains that same information. It wasn't about how it was punctuated.

[Rosetta]

Bless you Quinlad!!!!

[squiff-e-y]

I never heard him sneeze!!!!

[Ethel]

Terambulan - 'bint' has been used in the West Midllands, espcecially in the black country towns of West Bromwich, Dudley, Tipton and Walsall for probably hundreds of years to mean 'young woman', so I was a bint. :)

AOG - my intention on posting was to comment on the use of grammar in the quote. It was a pleasant change from my usual head shaking and tutting whilst reading the tabloid press. Not to comment on the colour of the farmer's skin, nor to comment on the behaviour of the police and public.

[morelegend]

Bint is common terminology for a woman , well slang in Scotland.And not Asian.Actually i believe its also Asian or Arabic for prostitute.


D T H ?�

[Bbbananas]

I agree Ethel - bint has been used in Lincolnshire for many a year. And not to mean Asian.

However, it was used as a more derogatory term than 'young girl' - see my previous post!

[anotheoldgit]

Rosetta

Since it now seems that an opology is not forthcoming

May I say, "you may like us to believe that you benefited from your time at university, but perhaps a general course in manners at the 'university of life' would not go adrift".

[Ethel]

sallabanana

I did see your post, but where I live 'bint' is often used affectionately. It depends on the context.

[Rosetta]

Excuse me anotheoldgit?
None of my posts have been rude or ill mannered in any way.
As to an apology, as a number of other posters have pointed out, my reply was valid.
I find your last post quite unnecessary.

[jno]

oldgit, it is indeed a quote. The sentence contains the farmer's own words as he spoke them (I assume). I agree it's hard to see but if you blow the screen text size up to maximum you'll see there is a quote mark at the start of the sentence. There isn't one at the end because the quote continues into the next paragraph.

[jno]

sallabananas, yes, you're right: 'to whom it may concern' is one sentence where it absolutely has to be 'whom'. There are various words that only exist in a single phrase - for instance you never hear of kith except in the phrase 'kith and kin' - and maybe 'whom' will some day become one of these.

[Quinlad]

Help us out, AOG. What are you on about?

[anotheoldgit]

Rosetta

I did not say your post was rude or ill manned in anyway.

What I was referring to was the fact that by the tone of your post you accused me of criticising your answer, when in fact I was asking for your advise.

My accusation of rudeness on your part, was the fact that you did not apologise for your mistake.

[Quinlad]

F*cking hell, that's petty.

[anotheoldgit]

Thank you jno for putting me right on that point. You are absolutely correct, I can now see it just looks like part of the 'T'