Connecting Words | English
I'm not going to preach about how to write properly. The medium used for writing dictates how to write properly. I am, however, going to ask you to examine what you write before you publish it.
I prepared myself a "Maruchan ® Instant Lunch" meal today and was reading the caution label when I realized that it could have two meanings, simply because the word "to" was left out.
Examine these two sentences:
Original sentence: Product is hot; please handle with care especially when serving children. (Do children taste good?)
Suggested sentence: Product is hot; please handle with care especially when serving to children.
As an American who speaks English as a first language, I knew what it meant but what about people who speak English as their second language? Of course, this is a minor example but it's important to make the distinction, especially when writing on a blog. Your readers come from every modernized country in the world and many of them speak English as a second language or use a translation service to read what you write.
One way to prevent a simple "mistake" like this from happening is to read what you have written out loud, pretending that you're speaking to someone else in the room. You'd be surprised at how many times I've found myself leaving out "a", "at", "in", "to" and other connecting words by including this step. Grammar checkers such as the one included in Microsoft Word won't always catch omissions and aren't reliable enough to implicitly trust.
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Children taste best with a side of baby coleslaw.
I get so mad at myself for not reading through a post before I publish it. Sometimes it is 2 or 3 days later before I notice how badly I have messed up a word that messes up an entire sentence.
LOL @ Lis.
Don't.
I'm having a trawl through my archives at the moment, and some of the typos are a tad vexing….
One of my best subject in college was English. I have noticed though if I don't use it on a regular basis I start to struggle with the simplest things. I do agree with you though. It does take a little time, but rereading can help clean up mistakes. Have a great day.
I see the same things here in .ch
Our official language here is italian, but most of the companies are in the german cantons, so when they have to translate stuff they ask to italians (or italian speakers) that live there. What you see then is even funnier than what you noticed on that instant lunch. (funnier or sad, depending on my mood.)
You can have lots of fun too. I'll try to translate one:
"We sells jacket for children in plastic."
In italian sounds better than english (and probably is not even correct to write it this way). The funny thing is that the above sentence is correct (in italian) if you say it because you can make a pause between children and "in plastic". Maybe it should be written with a colon.
Anyway the correct one is
"We sells jacket in plastic for children"
[...] Connecting Words by RT Cunningham [...]
thats really funny maurizio…
I am guilty too
I leave out 'the' many times!! and I repeat 'really' and 'actually' a lot and sometimes in the same darn sentence!!
will be paying more attention though! great reminder!
[...] Connecting Words by RT Cunningham [...]
lol – That's quite a good example.
It can be awkward at times to balance perfect grammar with a need to write short, succinct posts.
It really was a good example, and from the real world.
[...] Connecting Words by RT Cunningham [...]
"when serving children" – That's really great!
Greetings from switzerland!
Thank you and welcome to UV.
[...] Maria Palma * A Blogger on Blogging – Chapter 2: Wordpress Plugins for Faster Blogging by Vlad H * Connecting Words by RT Cunningham * Looking for the Right Web Site Design, But Have No Clue Where to Start? by Melissa Fach- [...]
My primary language is not english. Someone can correct me if I am wrong? I understood that the '(Do children taste good?)' line should have been removed.
Or I am wrong?
Thanks,
I put that there to emphasize what the original sentence could mean. Putting a "to" between the last two words in the sentence removes that possibility.
[...] Connecting Words by RT Cunningham [...]
iam facing with writing problem.can anyone help me to improve my writing skill?
fahim
A blog isn't the best place to learn about writing, unless you find one that caters to it.
[...] Connecting Words by RT Cunningham [...]
This a good post is it. Writing great goodly. Blah blah blah. Irony FTW.
I really dislike it when people write craptastically and then try to sell it as good. It's a huge problem on Digitalpoint with all of the one cent per word idiots lowering the value of quality writing.
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When we are talking about english……
Ha…ha… I can't speak English
But Doesn't it would be good if we try it and then correct it in other times.