JCC Grammar quiz, or why we love English

Jabbadabbado bristled at the unprovoked critique of his writing style. We believe that __________ will never mend their friendship.

A. he and SuperWatto
B. SuperWatto and him

 

That's much better.

Edit: you forgot the capital W!

 

C. them two cantankerous would-be supra-geniuses

 

This conversation is reminding me of my favorite Blues Traveler song:

Not only did I lie and tell her that I loved her, but also she didn't care, but anyway

 

Are you teaching them to use the U in words like honour, armour, valour? Are you instructing them to correctly pronounce and spell "aluminium"? That lieutenant is pronounced "lef-tenant"? That the "Thames" is pronounced "Temmes"? That Pittsburgh ought be pronounced "Pitts-borough"?

If not, you are doing more harm than good.

 

I was given this job because "frankly, their scores can't get any worse." But you've shown me the way.

 

My mother is a retired 73-year-old English teacher and she still tutors a handful of high school kids. She advises against using "don't" and "can't" in writing. She recoils at "won't" and I don't think she knows all the meanings and rules of "ain't".

 

Ain't ain't no big thing, ain't nobody told her?

 

Well, as she is Dutch one assumes her English is flawless?

 

Ain't nobody told you; you mustn't do what you dursn't?

 

No one speaks English better than Swedes who have learned it as a third or fourth language.

 

You laugh Jabba, but the concerns about English in your country is not unfounded. "We did good" - no, you did well. "I played bad" - no, you played badly. "I just spit water everywhere!" - no, you spat water.

As I type this, though, I can hear two processing monkeys (we are an "activity based working" company, meaning the peasants can mingle) talking about how drunk they were yesterday after a particularly large horse riding event inexplicably stopped the nation. I shan't repeat what they're saying, mostly because I am not confident I fully understand it.

It's an official language of the Nederlands. Sweden is like Holland in that they don't dub English-language programming - unlike you, Germany, you... Germans - so they have fairly consistent exposure from a young age. Very few Dutch don't speak English.

Gosh the Dutch are great people. Ben je het eens, Watto?

 

Not All Dutchmen.

 

I bet you are declension after seeing that FFG boardgame.

 

It gets weird when I (Dutch) correct my oldest daughter (French-Canadian) for her particular local variation of the language. I guess it's a language variety, Canadian English. I guess I should leave it be. But you want your girl to become a cosmopolitan, right?

I mean. Close the light. Put the sauce. WTF?

 

Watto if your child says "close the light", the failure must, in part, reside with you as the parent.

 

For choosing that mother or for leaving her in her mother's care?

 

Either will suffice.

 

The early part of your life is about building the tracks for your model train set. The latter part of your life is all about riding that train around and around and around those tracks.

The Head Admin told __________ JCC members to send him our checks for the monthly subscription fee.

A. we
B. us

 

Plural would be our bad, or more formally "the bad is ours."

 

We.

As in:

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."

From the St Sapients day speech.

 

We. The people. The US. The us.