Team-BHP - A YetiGuide® : How To Post In Proper English

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruskinash (Post 5761415)

In the sentence above, it should be "Its members" without an apostrophe after "it".
Remember, "It's" is a contraction of "it is." Adding an apostrophe would imply "it is members".

Hahaha... I think that one rule of the universe that says that every internet post on language, grammar, spelling, etc, must itself contain at least one mistake. rl:

I'm sure Sam knew the its/it's thing very well. I know I do. And I know that I occasionally make that mistake!

Welcome to the thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5761355)

Here's one we are going to be stuck with forever, certainly in Indian English, and possibly further afield.

Battery backup.

No! How long your phone battery lasts is not "backup!" Backup is something you have for when a primary source fails. Backup, in the home context, is a generator, or inverter, or a UPS for a computer. A phone does not have backup. Capacity, runtime, would be good words.

I guess it's just a mindless extension of legitimate usage for batteries used as actual backup for clocks (and such) running off the mains power.

-- I think I've found a way to legitimise the usage for my laptop that runs as a desktop connected to the wall when used at home, -- the battery actually providing backup during power outages! :-).
.

Language evolves (or often, in this case, devolves!) by bring new usages to words. But one of the ways this happens is by what I call mistake English. It's wrong but it sounds good. Or the ignorant person think something sounds better (a lot of those people in USA marketing departments!)

So, battery backup. It rolls off the tongue nicely, it's easy to pick up, and it has become the popular form. It's just a pity that it is nonsense!

Yes, the laptop battery, as well as being a potential primary power source, is also a good backup. In the old days, though, when such batteries suffered from memory, keeping them plugged in constantly meant that, when needed, the battery was full but very little power was available and the battery became useless.

“Installed my old XL6 with wheels & suspension from new facelift model”

link

I am not an expert, but this headline forced me to do a double take.

Wouldn’t it be better worded as “Installed facelift’s wheels & suspension on my old XL6”.

Facelift, sort of, already implies it is new. So, do we really need to say “new facelift”?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5762495)

So, battery backup. It rolls off the tongue nicely, it's easy to pick up, and it has become the popular form. It's just a pity that it is nonsense!

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Exactly! There cannot be a backup of a battery. The right term to use is Battery life. Although in some cases, battery life can also mean how long the battery can last before providing any power. I would still use battery life as it sounds better and accurate than backup :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dry Ice (Post 5781836)

“Installed my old XL6 with wheels & suspension from new facelift model”

Wouldn’t it be better worded as “Installed facelift’s wheels & suspension on my old XL6”.

Facelift, sort of, already implies it is new. So, do we really need to say “new facelift”?

Here's what a precise heading looks like:

2022 XL6 Upgraded with 2024 Facelift Wheels and Suspension

Note: I've assumed your model year is 2022 for the sake of constructing the heading. Please change it to the accurate year.

The key thing is getting the subject and the object right. It is not the car that has been installed, it is the wheels and suspension. So long as that is correct, there are probably many ways of saying the same thing.

Installed 2024-facelift wheels and suspension on my 2022 XL6

That's how I might have put it.

Please note how I have tied 2024-facelift. Using the hyphen is a dying art. It makes sure that the word association is correct. Imagine if it was a computer, reading lines of a program. If the computer does not know what words are closely associated it will fail.

When people write computer languages, they know that that they must write in such a way that the compiler or interpreter will associate stuff correctly. They should understand that the same goes for written or spoken human languages. Yes, we can usually work out what it's supposed to mean, but that is not an excuse for not expressing properly.

tilt, your English is better than mine, and you have far better better understanding of grammar and syntax. So... If you say so! :D

I suspect that this is a mistake I often make. I know it confuses me, so do please add an explanation

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5782395)

That is a very kind thing to say, thank you; I hope it is actually deserved.

I am afraid I am not good with grammar rules etc. in terms of explaining the Whys of the language - all I go by is whether it sounds/feels right or not. If it sounds funny or odd (or gives me "an itch" so to speak), it is incorrect, full stop.

There are enough people here whose knowledge is far better than mine; I am sure they could chime in and provide the rule using appropriate terminology.

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruskinash (Post 5781851)

Firstly, let me admit that there is always a sense of nervousness while posting on this thread. You know what I mean. lol:

Similar to the quoted example, could not help pointing out this headline (attached pic) on the forum. There is of course a world of difference between 'downsizing your big car' and 'downsizing from your big car'. Interestingly, when you hit the actual thread, the title is correct. I think it's perhaps due to some limit on the length of title on home page (specially on mobile UI) where I have observed this kind of shortening usually. For once, I was really got excited to see how one downsizes their big car stupid:

Okay, time to proof read my post:p

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodie09 (Post 5782664)

For once, I was really got excited to see how one downsizes their big car stupid:

Haha, you do what I do: take a sentence literally. I often get a laugh from that, but accept that it is not necessarily wrong. I think that downsizing the car can be understood as changing it for a smaller one, rather than attaching a suction pump and hoping to shrink it. rl:

It's taking "car" as general, rather than the actual current car.

There are lots of subtleties in the language, and the line between right and wrong can be very fine.

There are rules which are not even written or taught. Did you know there is a right and wrong order for adjectives? I didn't, until a few years ago. I was certainly not taught it at school, but, as a native speaker I do it "naturally."

Quote:

Generally, the adjective order in English is:

Quantity or number.
Quality or opinion.
Size.
Age.
Shape.
Color.
Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
Purpose or qualifier.

...a quick google

Tilt, you are good, and have given technical explanations of grammar that I forgot fifty years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodie09 (Post 5782664)

Firstly, let me admit that there is always a sense of nervousness while posting on this thread. You know what I mean. lol:

The power of online forums is anonymity! Type away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodie09 (Post 5782664)

Similar to the quoted example, could not help pointing out this headline (attached pic) on the forum. There is of course a world of difference between 'downsizing your big car' and 'downsizing from your big car'. Interestingly, when you hit the actual thread, the title is correct. I think it's perhaps due to some limit on the length of title on home page (specially on mobile UI) where I have observed this kind of shortening usually. For once, I was really got excited to see how one downsizes their big car stupid:

I find the double quotes around downsized unnecessary and possibly confusing, making the caption funny. Now read the caption while making air quotes around the word downsized, funny, right?

I believe there is a length limitation, so the captions are shortened to fit. This has been my observation, anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5782846)

Quote:

Generally, the adjective order in English is:
Quantity or number.
Quality or opinion.
Size.
Age.
Shape.
Color.
Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
Purpose or qualifier.

...a quick google

A British person adopting American spellings? You’re bound to cause a monocle or two to drop!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruskinash (Post 5782880)

A British person adopting American spellings?

lol: --- I cut&pasted it direct from google. I just wanted a convenient list, and didn't check the source, which must have been American.

I must be more careful what I CTRL-C: one can catch something nasty like that!