A simulcast!
It's getting to me: all of these hyphens, I mean. I read a lot of books and articles and cases and pamphlets and if I get my hands on an electronic copy of anything, I can spend ages getting rid of these wretched things. I find absolutely no use for hyphens except in the most rare of cases.
The latest, although quite old now, craze is the attempt to kill off the colon. That's : and not the large bowel of course.
I came across this exercise just the other day that was kindly provided by a colleague in good faith:
Insert hyphens in the following sentences, where necessary.
1 The letter was sent by second class post.
2 He was a very well mannered young man.
3 Ninety two people attended the concert.
4 The students co operated with the teacher.
5 The Vice Principal is Ms Baker.
6 The visitors are expected at tea time.
7 The recreation ground is used by the local football team.
8 John recreated the picture he saw at the art gallery.
9 The master bedroom has an en suite bathroom.
10 Forty eight pounds is a lot to pay for a table cloth.
My answer is that NONE OF THEM requires any hyphens whatseover. End of story. Give me an A*.
I may refer to this topic again.
As a matter of interest I had a discussion with an American colleague last night and as I thought of it as we were talking I asked him why an American says to a bar maid or barista, for example, "Can I get a drink ..." His reply was revealing as he said, "I don't. I say 'May I have'". I asked him why do we hear can I get then and he said it's laziness. Well, that was good to hear. I have long said that these bad language habits (Can I get, lack of use of adverbs, poor prepositional sense ...) are confined to uneducated people and this chap is a PhD holder who clearly knows a lot better!!! I then said the other annoyance is when someone says they will "Bring that to your house ..." Erm, you mean you are already at my house? They mean TAKE that to your house of course. Another bete noir explored a little.
DW
No comments:
Post a Comment