Grammar query: that versus which
- Thread starter kasperhauser
- Start date
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
The more i thought about, the more i concluded nothing wrong with it..
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
I knew teachers who thought school was the Borg collective and did no real teaching.
narabdela
who?
Indeed, I think we've all had them. You find them in Universities as well as schools.
Luckily, they were the exception rather than the rule ime.
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
Any one who calls the main dish in a meal an entree should back away now…
palasr
>>>...<<<
'Sport' vs. 'Sports' triggers me in the same manner (as an American). Explain that one.
Beobloke
pfm Member
Love that one! Also good is: "that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is."
Never forget - punctuation and grammar is the difference between helping your uncle, Jack, off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse.
gustav_errata
pfm Member
Here's another one: in England, why is "hospital" a state of being rather than a physical location?
As in, "I regret to inform you that he is unwell and in hospital" instead of "...in the hospital".
As in, "I regret to inform you that he is unwell and in hospital" instead of "...in the hospital".
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
Our in house grammar experts might have to confer in camera over that one.
gustav_errata
pfm Member
I'm not saying that American English is consistent here either. We blather on about our time "in college" while we're having coffee with our friends "in town". But that's the same in the UK, so why the difference for "hospital"? We can at least all agree that no one says "Please remember to buy some bread while you're in supermarket," so what makes a hospital building different?
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
I worked at the Inorganic Chemistry Dept. in Oxford.
‘The Inorganic Chemistries Dept’
Hmm...
gustav_errata
pfm Member
...and if a person dies under mysterious circumstances in hospital, is the autopsy carried out in morgue?
It's a chemist's joke about the valency of carbon, which is 4. It means that carbon can form 4 organic (covalent) bonds. The elements found in organic compounds basically never exhibit a valency greater than 4. Valencies of 1 and 2 are commonplace, 3 is rare and 4 is generally only carbon. Inorganic compounds form ionic bonds. They can upon occasion exceed 4 bonds, but ionic bonds differ conceptually and in nature from covalent bonds and the chemists' notation is different. The joke therefore runs that organic chemists and biochemists count up as "one, two, three, four, fi... Oh f*** it, it's ionic. Who cares?."
Dunno. I'm in work. Should I be in the work?
I don't think anyone does, do they?
I have not seen the mathematic proof. Similar to systematatic proof.
Martyn Miles
pfm Member
It’s not so much English/American, but it annoys me in a cafe if, when someone brings your food,
they just say ‘Enjoy.’
It seems lazy.
Why not say ‘Enjoy your food.’ ?
Or is it just me being odd ?
My wife thinks so.
they just say ‘Enjoy.’
It seems lazy.
Why not say ‘Enjoy your food.’ ?
Or is it just me being odd ?
My wife thinks so.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
Mathematical, surely?
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
Well, of the examples cited, 'in the supermarket' seems to be the odd one out. We find ourselves 'in school', 'in college', 'in town'. If we found ourselves 'in trouble' we might then be 'in court' and end up 'in prison'. Alternatively, we might find ourselves 'in the city', 'in the dentist's', 'in the office' or, preferably, 'in the pub'.
I'm not detecting a rule, other than perhaps that there isn't a rule and it's a bit random and, perhaps, depends on how it trips off the tongue.