2nD~!

Raniah and myself found this at Boon Lay Mrt Station.
How about 1st handphone????

actually it is suppose to be second hand handphone right?

fazilah

Hong Kong English

Hey guys,to e the worst form of English can usually be found in the subtitles of Hong Kong flicks?The following is taken from this website: http://www.bigwhiteguy.com/subtitles.php
A bit suffocated on the chest.
A fan called for disturbance.
A gentleman should help the need.
A man who disguised as woman beated me.
A maniac send me flowers.
A men like you is worse than dead.
A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries.
A pack of cigarette please.
A police like detective Tam, got a gun then you can have gold.
A policeman must round up anyone, even if he was a Robin Hood. What a mockery.
A poor band player I was, but now I am crocodile king.
A train can't break out of my palm.
Abbot, kindness results nothing to evil.
About courting woman, you are no match to that bastard.
According to my usual practice, I'll kill before reporting the Central.
After Bo disappeared, I thought everyone will be shock by it.
All fanciness are posted outside. All ill-fated jinxes have come.
All the 4 of them will be rested in peace.
All these years, I look him everywhere to seek for cure.

After attending the DUE classes, i believe it is due to the direct translation of cantonese to english. what do u guys think?

Cheers
Shah

this photo was taken in a carrefour outlet in taiwan.

what's mentioned there is "fresh cashier". to me, the word fresh seems like an adjective there describing whether the cashier is fresh or stale although it can be neither.

i believe what they wanted to convey was the direction that you should head to if you want fresh food or to go to make payment at the cashier.


Amanda

Ice that revels??

I was walking home one day when I came across the Tuck Lee Ice truck that was parked at the gas station. On the truck, there was this phrase:

"Have Ice will revel"

I am not too sure what Tuck Lee was trying to convey. According to the online Cambridge Dictionary, revel means: to dance, drink, sing, etc. at a party or in public, especially in a noisy way. I am guessing that this company hopes to tell potential customers that purchasing ice from their company would help build the atmosphere of a party. However, I am not too sure if this is what it means and if this phrase is grammatically correct. Perhaps it should be: Having ice will revel? or maybe, Ice that will revel?

Perhaps someone can shed some light on this? (:

- Andrea.

less vs fewer

I was queuing in a supermarket when I saw the sign for the express aisle which read “10 items or less”. At a glance, I assumed that it was grammatically correct until I gave it much thought.

Being that the items found in the shopping trolley are all countable, the use of “less” is grammatically incorrect. This is because; less is only used for uncountable nouns like rice. For example, when you’re queuing for food and want a smaller portion, you will say “Can I have less rice please”.

Therefore, in this case, the sign should have been “10 items or fewer” due to the fact that we are able to physically count the items purchased.

Arafah

silly mistakes

Some silly mistakes we could make:

(Right, Wrong)

Loose for lose

I always loose my things.

I always lose my things.

It's for its

Download the file along with it's folder.

Download the file, along with its folder.

They're for their 

The teachers are in they're weekly contact time.

The teachers are in their weekly contact time.

Lay for lie

I got dizzy and had to lay down.

I got dizzy and had to lie down.

(The verb lie ''assume a horizontal or resting position'' is often confused with the verb lay ''put something down'', giving rise to incorrect uses such as: he is laying on the bed  or why don't you lie the suitcase on the bed? When, correct use is: he is lying on the bed or why don't you lay the suitcase on the bed?. The confusion is only heightened by the fact that lay is not only the base form of to lay, but is also the past tense of to lie, so while "he is laying on the bed is incorrect", "he lay on the bed yesterday is quite correct." )

(you could further research on your own) =)

Now its your turn to try it out yourself. Come up with examples of these words used in the wrong way.

Effect for affect

P.S: do comment if there's any mistakes

YiMon

ENGALISH LA!

i like this thing i saw on the following website.

http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/site/tips-for-parents/conversations-gone-wrong.html

Take the time to help your child be sensitive to common mistakes made in spoken English. You can have him or her tell you about the things that happen in school. This will help sharpen his/her senses to spot common mistakes made in everyday conversations.
To help you get started, try role-playing this conversation between Ming and John in the school canteen. Spot and correct the answers together.

Ming:
I ever play basketball for the school team you know?
John:
Is it? I never see you play before.
Ming:
Just last last month got play with our next door school.
John:
Difficult or not?
Ming:
Not yet start playing a bit scare, but when playing not so. Got training so not so difficult.
John:
I think maybe next time I also try to play in school team.
Ming:
Come. Very easy one.
Getting It Right
Did you spot all the mistakes? Here’s a suggested recap of the conversation, with the errors corrected in bold.
Ming:
Did you know that I used to represent our school in basketball?
John:
I have never seen you playing at any competition.
Ming:
I just did two months ago / the previous month. We played against / competed against the school next door.
John:
Was it a difficult / tough game?
Ming:
I was a little nervous / scared before the game began. But when we started playing, it wasn’t all that bad. We have been training hard so it wasn’t too tough for us.
John:
I think I should try out for the team the next time round.
Ming:
Sure, it is easy.
Source: Edited from “Grammar Matters” a series of handbooks by RELC

There is a lot more on this website that makes up for an interesting read!

Rajini

ENGRISH.....

Hey guys...

stumbled across this site on the creative use of English language in Japanese products and advertising.

You REALLY need to see this. Do check out all links located on left side of the page... super hilarious stuff!

www.engrish.com

cheers - Roslee

'Mind' your Language

I saw this advertisement on the way to NIE one day in bus 199 and felt that something was wrong with the statement. Why would someone want to be a 'mind'? They would rather be a greater person right? I wonder if the organisation wanted the word 'mind' to be equivalent to 'person' through this message. Even then, I feel this statement is grammatically wrong and could have been phrased as 'For a greater mind'. Well, what do you guys think?

Take a look at the conversation below:

X: What time is is now?

Y: Its 'tree' o'clock

X: How many times a day do u need to take this medication?

Y: The doctor said 'Tree' times a day

I'm sure some of us have mispronounced the word 'three' without emphasising the 'th' sound

during our daily conversations. Probably it's easier to pronounce 'tree' rather than 'three'. Alot of students too pronounce it as 'tree' and I realised that it's actually a common error made by even teachers sometimes :) Blame it on the lazy tongue! Lol..!!!

Ashini

BEWARE OF CHILDREN!

There is a childcare center near my house and I have to pass by the place everyday to get to the car park. The doors would be closed and on one of them was pasted a sign:

Please look out for children at the back of this door.

2 things came to my mind:

1) I've got to be careful, because children might jump out on me at anytime.... a very scary thought especially late at night.

2) How in the world am I supposed to look out for them when the door is closed and they are at the back of it? They'd be inside right? And I'd know there'll be children around because the door opens inwards into the center. (door open, children around... duh!)

Anyways, just feel that the sign could have been phrased better... maybe something like:

Please be mindful of children in the area ???

Well, the sign never fails to bring a smile to my face. Just imagine, having children appearing in front of you out of nowhere while you are walking.... reminds me of other countries where you can see signs like 'Deer crossing' or 'Beware of toads' at roadsides. Hehehe.

- Roslee

Spoken English

(1) Many students don't know the difference between words like Look and See.

Here are my findings!

Look at these examples first:

• I can see the Singapore Flyer from where I live.

• Look! Isn't that little girl adorable?

Can you tell the difference?

• "See" is an "inactive" verb. Our eyes are always open, so we don't have to actively think about the action of "seeing". To see means you may not have necessarily choose to put within your field of vision but your eye sends the image of its existence to your brain anyway. For example, when you wake up in the mornings, you can choose to look to the left of your bedroom but do or die, you will wake up and see that table beside you.
  
  
• "Look" is an "active" verb. You have to actively think about the action of "looking". You have to want to do it. Look means to specifically search out something that you choose to put within your field of vision. When you look at someone, you chose to, whether consciously or sub-consciously decide to it.
  
  
• "Look" is usually used when the action lasts for a short time, while "watch" is used for actions that last for a longer period of time.

So, the speaker of that sentence should have said: Look! instead of See.

In addition, he should have also said Look! The trains are coming very crowded every two minutes! The same train is not coming to the station, crowded with people every two minutes, it sounds illogical. So it would be good to say the trains(many of them) are coming to give clarity to the idea that every train that comes to the station is crowded, and the time taken for the trains to come is approx. 2 minutes.

(2) You do not need to add the "back" after the word return. It acts as redundancy.

The definition of return –verb (used with object)

1. to put, bring, take, give, or send back to the original place, position, etc.: to return a book to a shelf; to return a child to her mother; to return the switch to off position.

The correct way of saying it would be I borrowed your pencil and I need to return it to you now. We should use the "it" to refer to the object(pencil) because with the ellipsis of the word "it", it can cause ambiguity.

How can one, possibly, return you back? ;)

Just my views! Do correct me if I am wrong.

Cheers ;) Poonam

Sources:

1. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080224071529AAezj7G

2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/specials/1125_questions/page5.shtml

3. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_the_words_look_watch_and_see

4. www.dictionary.com

The men don't get it !

I was passing by this shop in Serangoon Road just the other day. And the banner caught my attention. Reading the advertisement banner in the shop, I was wondering why do the all the ladies need a fashion each. Shouldn't it be "Ladies fashion" instead of "Ladies' fashion" ? Any comments ?

Spot the irony.

Hi people.
I came across this interesting joke online.

http://www.ahajokes.com/grammar.html

It gives us some tips to improve our writing. However, there is an irony in each of the tips given. The tips themselves did not abide by the tips. get it? :)

My favourite tips are:

-Comparisons are as bad as cliches

-The passive voice is to be avoided

-Don't overuse exclamation marks!!

-Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.

-Be more or less specific

(There are more in the website given above.)

-Fazilah-

That shirt is more cheaper.

More + er

What is wrong with the following sentence?
That shirt is more cheaper.

This is a common mistake. Once you say more, do not add ‘er’.
The general rule: If the adjective has two or more syllables, use more, except for adjectives that end in -y (e.g. prettier, lovelier, sexier)


From http://www.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/2000-03/msg00369.html


Sureen Kumar

Free Gift

notice how often we use the phrase "free gift"?

free implies that something need not be purchased while gift is given out of goodwill. though the term itself has nothing wrong, think about it this way. would you like to be given a gift and then told that you are required to pay for it?

a gift is always free and if it's chargeable, then, it's not a gift. :)

adapted from http://www.grammarerrors.com/wordchoice.html

Regards,
Mahdiah

Apostrophe-s

[Seen in Stomp.English as it is Broken column.]

Title: Whose car is it?
Shermaine asked: We all know that '"This is June's yellow car." What about Gladys? "This is Gladys's yellow car" or "This is Gladys' yellow car"?

Reply to Shermaine:
Hi there Shermaine! This matter of where to place the apostrophe can get kind of confusing. Generally, it's really a matter of style for I'd say by now there isn't any real correct or wrong way to do this. If you want to not include the 's' then be consistent and vice versa.

My Thoughts:

After reading this, I'm not too convinced. Is it really a matter of style or is there a fixed rule to follow? I always thought it should be "This is Gladys' yellow car."

So is it: "This is Ellis's book." or "This is Ellis' book." ?

What do you think? Please enlighten me. =) Thanks.

Regards,
ellis

I everyday do clean clean.

check this out. Some funny signboards from China.

http://www.yowazzup.com/2008_08_15/funny-signs-in-china.html

Mohammad Zaid

Give me an examlpe !

One of the most commonly made grammatical mistakes today are the abbreviations "e.g." and "i.e.". I am not sure where the problem is. Maybe people are treating the word as a polysemy.
But they are not polysemy. Their meaning are completely different and you can't use them interchangeably. Lets have a look at the following sentence ;

Alvin uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts (i.e. textbooks).

What did the writer mean by this ?
He meant, "a variety of informational texts, for example, textbook ", but actually says, "a variety of informational texts, this is, textbook ", which is wrong because although textbook is a informational text, there are many informational texts other than textbook. The correct way to write is (e.g. textbooks)

"e.g." is the abbreviation for exempli gratia, and stands "for example"."i.e." is the abbreviation for id est, and stands for "that is".We use "e.g." when you want to give an example (or examples) of something you have just said. We use "i.e." when you wish to explain briefly or to clarify what you just said, or say the same thing in other words.
E.g. " Media, e.g. internet have a negative influence on youths , and one of which can cause them to become a anorexic (i.e. eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image)."

I hope that clarifies some misunderstanding between the two abbreviations.

Vanan

I Would Like To Buy A Hamburger

There is totally nothing wrong with the sentence. Gramatically Correct to my opinion. However, it is hilarious when a Frenchman attempts to say it with the French Accent. However, what's the difference between "I WILL like to buy a hamburger" and "I WOULD like to buy a hamburger"?... hmmm

One more pointIt comes to this: Even if the English is 100% perfect (Grammar, noun, verbs etc), does that mean one will understand it to its entirety?In this clip, Inspector Clouseau (Played by Steve Martin) tries to learn how to speak English but his French Accent got in the way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUCDhvbQFmU

Grammarman!!

Hi all check this link out!! Its quite funny. ( :


http://www.jamesabela.co.uk/intermediate/grammarman.jpg

Regards
Raniah

Singlish as an identity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cZLV1QyZW8&feature=related
Convert daily speaking into Singlish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyWtGAZ5cbQ&feature=related
Teach you how to use Singlish
-the different word class in Singlish

Learn more about Singlish! -Daniel

Blogging for DUE 102

Hello , fellow classmates. The blog has been created. As quoted by Ludwig ,

"You may post pictures or examples of English -- either errors or perfectly good examples -- which teach some grammar point (e.g. that verbs should agree with head nouns of noun phrases). Try to comment constructively on your friends' posts. Observe internet etiquette: no flaming, don't be a troll, and take care not to violate copyright."

For a start, maybe we can sit back and enjoy this comical video from "Mind Your Language"...

So take it away from here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIAvfyyEpy4

cheers,
Vanan