http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201609 ... ow-we-know“Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out.”
The English language
- dtaai-maai
- Hero
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The English language
One of the reasons English is not easy to learn... or to teach!
This is the way
Re: The English language
"So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife."
I have a little old lovely green rectangular French whittling knife....
I have an old lovely green little rectangular French whittling knife....
I have a rectangular French whittling knife, old, green and lovely....
I have a little old lovely green rectangular French whittling knife....
I have an old lovely green little rectangular French whittling knife....
I have a rectangular French whittling knife, old, green and lovely....
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
- Khundon1975
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Re: The English language
I have a spherical, Thai twittering wife, old, green and lovely.
I've lost my mind and I am making no effort to find it.
Re: The English language
"Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order"
Never heard of that.......must be "old" English, eh.
Never heard of that.......must be "old" English, eh.
Re: The English language
DM is correct. It's not a new rule either. I learnt it in grammar school in the fifties.
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- Ace
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Re: The English language
You must be very learned to have learnt thatHHTel wrote:DM is correct. It's not a new rule either. I learnt it in grammar school in the fifties.
Re: The English language
Learned it - yes. Never said I remembered it. Forgotten a long time ago.arcadianagain wrote:You must be very learned to have learnt thatHHTel wrote:DM is correct. It's not a new rule either. I learnt it in grammar school in the fifties.
- Vital Spark
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Re: The English language
It's a really interesting article. I particularly liked the 'clip-clop, tick-tock' bit, something that I'd never thought about. I think that I also learnt adjective order when I was a grammar school many moons ago. One thing that I always teach my students is to use no more than three adjectives to describe something (otherwise it's rather clumsy, and difficult to read).
VS
VS
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
Re: The English language
Really, VS? And which part of the school exactly were you? Or is it: "which part of the school were you exactly"?Vital Spark wrote: I think that I also learnt adjective order when I was a grammar school many moons ago. VS
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
- Vital Spark
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Re: The English language
At which part of the school was I, exactly? Just a normal English language class in a lovely (sadly, since closed) grammar school in rural Suffolk (in 1972).
VS
VS
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
Re: The English language
"when I was a grammar school many moons ago"
This is a casual conversational forum. Some members are very picky. So the word 'at' was missing from the above sentence. I wonder if these members speak correctly or slip into 'conversational English' like most of the English speaking population.
This is a casual conversational forum. Some members are very picky. So the word 'at' was missing from the above sentence. I wonder if these members speak correctly or slip into 'conversational English' like most of the English speaking population.
- Vital Spark
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Re: The English language
Oh, heck. I didn't notice my typo. Hence not picking up on what Nereus meant. In true Thai fashion I'll prostrate myself in front of my keyboard and beg forgiveness.
VS
P.S. I hope some members of this forum don't become too nit-picky about grammatical or typing errors. It may just deter people posting interesting stuff. Know wot I mean?
VS
P.S. I hope some members of this forum don't become too nit-picky about grammatical or typing errors. It may just deter people posting interesting stuff. Know wot I mean?
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
- Bamboo Grove
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Re: The English language
What I've been wondering for eons: Where did the "I was sat" come from?
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- Vital Spark
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Re: The English language
BG: I blame the BBC, because they moved their headquarters up to Manchester. Northern English accents have become more popular for a multitude of programmes, and the dialect up north uses this form. It really irritates me when I hear it, but I guess we have to accept (grudgingly) that the English language is dynamic, and if something is used long enough it becomes part of the norm.
I still hate it...
VS
I still hate it...
VS
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
- Bamboo Grove
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Re: The English language
Thanks, VS, it irritates me, too. Although, I can give no explanation to why it does.
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