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English Grammar Thread
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| niconico |
Posted on 30-01-2008 17:13
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Thought about this for a while. Since this is basically an english site, us foreigners would enjoy the Englishmen's incredible wisdom in the field of "english grammar", since they basically should know it all. So this a thread were the foreigners can ask the wise people about English, but also a thread where the English can moan about our english incapabilities, should it grow too much for you at some point.
Now my question is: A mate of mine who attend Business High School, has just turned in an English assignment, where he had to translate some kind of Danish business letter into English. Eventhough this doesn't make sense to the Englishmen, I'll put it here just as a formality, one sentence he had to translate was: "Tak for din efterspørgsel af den 26. April 2006", which basically means "Thank you for your enquiry of April 26, 2006".
This is were my mate stubbornly claims, that because this should be written in a formal language, it's correct to say, "Thank for your enquiry of April 26, 2006", while I claimed he had to put in a "you" between 'thank' and 'for'
So, smart people, who's right?
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 30-01-2008 17:20
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I'd say "Thank you for" is the right call here.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 30-01-2008 17:21
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Thank you for your enquiry on April 26, 2006
I presume this enquiry was made on April 26th and not about the date April 26th, which is why I changed of to on.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 30-01-2008 17:22
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| chuckie |
Posted on 30-01-2008 17:25
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''Thank for your is an indirect statement. you have to put in ''you''. |
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| Addy291 |
Posted on 30-01-2008 17:33
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I'm not too good at English grammar ops:
but I know Sporting is exactly correct
Edited by Addy291 on 30-01-2008 17:34
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| Crommy |
Posted on 30-01-2008 18:14
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"Thank you for your enquiry..."
Then it gets a little bit tricky. A hell of a lot must be taken into account, because it could be on or of, it depends entirely on what the enquiry was, when it was made...
English is not a nice language - half the time we just make up rules, it just sounds right to us
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| mrlol |
Posted on 30-01-2008 18:20
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what does enquiry means??? ops: |
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| Crommy |
Posted on 30-01-2008 18:26
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Take your pick
1. The act of inquiring.
2. A question; a query.
3. A close examination of a matter in a search for information or truth.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 27-11-2024 05:08
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| stemple |
Posted on 30-01-2008 18:39
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Addy291 wrote:
I'm not too good at English grammar ops:
but I know Sporting is exactly correct
i am like you addy, i have spoken english, or at least american english, all my life, but perfect grammer seems to elude me. I remember in college we had to take a course that was a writing course. Basically it meant a lot of writing and that we would be graded on grammer as well. Well i thought ok, i will take this script writing class. Since i figured I could say that my characters were stupid an didn't know perfect grammer, but it was only open to film majors.
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| niconico |
Posted on 30-01-2008 18:49
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Crommy wrote:
"Thank you for your enquiry..."
Then it gets a little bit tricky. A hell of a lot must be taken into account, because it could be on or of, it depends entirely on what the enquiry was, when it was made...
English is not a nice language - half the time we just make up rules, it just sounds right to us
Yeah you really do, it's more or less a language based on exceptions.
Anyway, thanks for the help everyone!
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| issoisso |
Posted on 30-01-2008 19:24
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A_Schleck wrote:
us foreigners would enjoy the Englishmen's incredible wisdom in the field of "english grammar", since they basically should know it all.
From personal experience I can assure you this optimistic assumption is dead wrong  (I'm serious)
stemple wrote:
perfect grammer seems to elude me
yes, I can tell by your spelling of "grammar" 
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
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| Crommy |
Posted on 30-01-2008 20:51
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issoisso wrote:
A_Schleck wrote:
us foreigners would enjoy the Englishmen's incredible wisdom in the field of "english grammar", since they basically should know it all.
From personal experience I can assure you this optimistic assumption is dead wrong (I'm serious)
I was hoping nobody would point this out - yes, most British people have appalling grammar - which begs the question - if the majority do it wrong, is it wrong?
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 30-01-2008 20:56
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Crommy wrote:
which begs the question - if the majority do it wrong, is it wrong?
Im enough of a grammar-nazi and an elitist to say yes.
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| issoisso |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:03
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Waghlon wrote:
Crommy wrote:
which begs the question - if the majority do it wrong, is it wrong?
Im enough of a grammar-nazi and an elitist to say yes.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:09
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A_Schleck: Why would they be so "wise" on English grammer? It's the fewest Danes who know anything about Danish grammer. I have to know a lot about Danish grammar since it's my job to check other's grammar, but the majority of Danes are unbelieveably bad at, for example, punctuation. Even the journalists ...
So, don't expec the American / English people to be any better  I mean -- look at Smoothie
Edited by CrueTrue on 30-01-2008 21:09
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:14
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I think that your intellectual education effects this thread Crue...
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| niconico |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:27
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CrueTrue wrote:
A_Schleck: Why would they be so "wise" on English grammer? It's the fewest Danes who know anything about Danish grammer. I have to know a lot about Danish grammar since it's my job to check other's grammar, but the majority of Danes are unbelieveably bad at, for example, punctuation. Even the journalists ...
So, don't expec the American / English people to be any better I mean -- look at Smoothie
If the Department of Education could just make up their minds about the punctuation system I think a lot more would get it. Until I get in trouble over it, I'll just continue popping in commas when it looks right, as I think just about every regular Dane does
Not to pry, but what are you studying since you have to know grammar? Danish?
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| issoisso |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:39
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A_Schleck wrote:
CrueTrue wrote:
A_Schleck: Why would they be so "wise" on English grammer? It's the fewest Danes who know anything about Danish grammer. I have to know a lot about Danish grammar since it's my job to check other's grammar, but the majority of Danes are unbelieveably bad at, for example, punctuation. Even the journalists ...
So, don't expec the American / English people to be any better I mean -- look at Smoothie
If the Department of Education could just make up their minds about the punctuation system I think a lot more would get it. Until I get in trouble over it, I'll just continue popping in commas when it looks right, as I think just about every regular Dane does
Not to pry, but what are you studying since you have to know grammar? Danish?
Social Studies. he wants to be a politician. Seriously. Those politicians that have a degree (say, completely randomly....in engineering) will do well. For the others, there's LEGO.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
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| Waghlon |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:49
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I was under the impression that you didnt need an edukasjon to become a politician. The ones we have in charge in Denmark barely qualifies by any standard.
I mean, the minister of family (and stuff like that) doesnt have children for a start...
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| issoisso |
Posted on 30-01-2008 21:55
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Waghlon wrote:
I was under the impression that you didnt need an edukasjon to become a politician. The ones we have in charge in Denmark barely qualifies by any standard.
I mean, the minister of family (and stuff like that) doesnt have children for a start...
it's "edukatechion". Iz It kan be RVAU time now? kthxbai
really, the minister advocating making roman catholicism the offcial religion over here is divorced (we pride ourselves on having no official religion)
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
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