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Thread ID: 58957	2005-06-17 07:17:00	Need help on clarifying some English words	Renmoo (66)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
364671	2005-06-19 09:45:00	English is a crappy language. People will disagree, citing that I am misguided, in experienced, picky and immature - not to mention arrogant and above all obnoxious. In the end of the day, I'm glad I didn't learn English as a second language, because it's so bloody hard. But as a language, it sucks, end. (I was told not to start a sentence with "but"... hmmm.) I will therefore only suggest two more things: Learn another language. No matter how many you know, learn another. This will also help you learn much about English. Read more. I don't read enough at all, and find it huts my vocabulary. I have to learn from others, which gets tedious. So, I have resolved to read and read and read - specifically essays on moral relativism.	Growly (6)
364672	2005-06-19 09:52:00	Is there any possibility that you and your Parents or ( care givers) or Uncles or Aunts or Teachers or Friends can help here? It appears to me that most younger people can learn text messaging as in "U R" as compared to "you are" y nt us eng & lern? pls xcs my lk of knldge.	Elephant (599)
364673	2005-06-19 10:05:00	Little known but (to me anyway) interesting fact about English is that in the ....er I think.... 19c, some ( pom ) honchos thought the language lacked 'class', unlike French, (for example) . So they decided to restructure the tongue and give it a bit of that class so they looked around , not very long, and thought oh Latin is really Remuera (local flavour element sorry surferjoe46) so they did this really reprehensible thing of massaging this hodge-podge mongrel language into the rules of latin grammar. Generations of kids including myself have been whacked on the knuckles for starting a sentence with a preposition (for eg) when this is only a 'rule' from the latin paradigm. Totally sucks! Pooh bah! Take a hike! Check it out if you don't believe me. :D :D	mark c (247)
364674	2005-06-19 10:38:00	Back to the English language. Without learning it there is a fair chance you will not get employed. In NZ you may get employed if you are fluent in English, Maori or Japanese. Most employment forms here you have to fill in in English. Comprehension helps.	Elephant (599)
364675	2005-06-19 11:27:00	English is an odd language and I too wouldn't like to learn it as a second language. But the fact is that it's the most versatile and precise method of communicating of any language.	Greg (193)
364676	2005-06-19 12:19:00	.............. But the fact is that it's the most versatile and precise method of communicating of any language. Ey what?????? txt language..Personally i loath it but, it proves beyond a dought that english has far too much redundant and useless noise in its construction. Its got far too many words in it that mean exactly the same thing and are used in an interchangable manner just to show off how many words we know. Well, aren't we clever then? :p It also has far too many words that mean different things. The exact same combination of words can be a statement, or a question, which is fine in the written world, but misleading in the spoken world. It has too many loaded meanings, which reflect the culture it is the product of. Also, and in direct contridiction to what i said above, one of the languages charms is that it is evolving. The rules that are too fixed can't allow for this. It is a mongrel language. It is composed of many local flavours. It borrows and adopts words from other languages, and is built from other languages. "Proper English" is a fine example of an oxymoron.	personthingy (1670)
364677	2005-06-19 12:25:00	2 many words psnthigny	mark c (247)
364678	2005-06-19 12:32:00	2 many words psnthigny :thumbs: oops sowwy	personthingy (1670)
364679	2005-06-20 08:13:00	What's the difference between the phrase "the building has been upgraded" and "the building had been upgraded"? Cheers :)	Renmoo (66)
364680	2005-06-20 09:20:00	This is exactly what a copy of Swan's "Current English Usage" (title may vary a bit, long time since I've needed one), would answer. Simply, the diff between "has been" and "had been" is that in the former no significant event has occurred ( to do with the building) since the building was upgraded and in the latter some event has happened since. "The building has been upgraded and is now looking good." "The building had been upgraded before the flood the washed the whole kaboodle down the creek." HTH...........m	mark c (247)
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