Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 335236)

"Who here is a grammar nerd?"
*raises hand sheepishly*

I gotta rap on this "there's vs there're" issue again, I'm afraid n_n;;; .

Even though English is pretty slim on verb conjugation as far as Indo-European languages go, we DO have rules for conjugating verbs. "Be" (to be) does conjugate. It goes to "are" for second person aspect and also for plural number. It goes to "is" for third person aspect and also singular number. Then, it goes to "am" for first person aspect with singular number. Verbs agree with the subject that they modify, hence talking about "loads of people", a plural subject, requires that the verb "to be"* be conjugated to "are" because of the plural number.

So, when you use the existential phrase "there [to be]" in the case of "loads of people", you would say "there are." Since we English speakers love contractions, the grammatically correct word is "there're," not "there's".

For those reasons, I can't accept it when people say "there's" with a plural subject, even in colloquial speech. It doesn't seem lazy to me, actually. To me, and I mean no offense to anybody, it seems ignorant and apathetic.

*This is for those who are starting out learning English:

"To be" is roughly equivelant (sp?) to "desu" (or "estar/ser" if you've studied Spanish at all). But, "there [to be]" is more equivelant to the "aru/iru" verbs. To me, saying "there's" for a plural subject would be like a gaijin using "irimasu" for something inanimate (like a coin or a bowl).

"There's trees" approximates to "Neko ga arimasu" in grammatical correctness.

Originally Posted by kuronekoaus (Post 335366)

And Amnell: I like you very, very much xD

Originally Posted by MMM (Post 335380)

Grammar nerd question:

I often hyphenate adjectives before a noun if they are two words, but I know some people don't like that. For example: I like "rose-colored glasses" over "rose colored glasses" or "smoke-filled room" over "smoke filled room". Any opinions?

Originally Posted by kuronekoaus (Post 335417)

I'd say your way is correct. Otherwise they'd be two separate words.

Some people don't like it 'cause they're stupid lol /jk.

Another question: does any [other] grammar nazi hate netspeak? I use it quite a bit, mainly because it'd look weird to have 'HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA' all over my posts...

Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 335442)

On that note, 1337-sp34k has its place, too. :cool:

Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 335480)

Lol, mostly. Though, I do use it from time to time in during OOC in RP threads and on Counter-Strike and AIM.

lawlz, u R t3h nu8!!!11!onenoe pwn7 4-3v4h

^_^;;;

Originally Posted by Katchan6 (Post 335487)

lol, u r the noob!!! ??? owns onenoe owns forever

is how i read it :D

Originally Posted by MMM (Post 335483)

I have almost no idea what that last sentence said

"Laughing. You are the ??? ?? ?????? owned ?-???"

Am I even close?

Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 335515)

Gloss:
lawlz, u R t3h nu8!!!11!onenoe pwn7 4-3v4h

Originally Posted by MMM (Post 335509)

Can I get a translation of your translation?

Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 336608)

83 w0r53 1|= i7 w3r3 7|-|i5 411 7h3 tym3, 7|-|0u9h.

Originally Posted by Thunda (Post 336794)

It says: What does it say??
83 worse 1|= it were this all the time, though.

Originally Posted by kuronekoaus (Post 336700)

The 'oneone' is generally used to emphasize that the typist is a noob...

For example, "OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!1!!!one!!1111!!!!!shiftone!!!1!!"

Of course that's an extreme example.

Originally Posted by Suki (Post 336799)

Be worse if it were this all the time, though.

Originally Posted by Amnell (Post 336849)

Actually, you're a noob if it looks like this:

!!!!!!11

If you just totally pwnd someone (or are a complete ass), then it looks like this:

!!!!11!!11oneoneenonoe1!1one

or some variation thereof.

Much like in Japanese, 1337-speak has a system in place to show the relative status of typist to reader.

....... Yeah right XD

Originally Posted by GinaS (Post 845535)

I'm surprised to hear people say that English is easy to learn. I would think it would be very difficult, at least to read and write, because of all the differing pronunciations the same letter combinations can produce, or even just individual letters.

Originally Posted by GinaS (Post 845535)

There's an old joke about "ghoti" being pronounced as "fish," if you take your cues from the "gh" in "rough," the 'o' in "women," and the "ti" in "nation."

But I think the worst offender is "ough." If you don't know, you can't guess. It can be pronounced as in

through, rhymes with blue,
though, rhymes with glow,
thought, rhymes with hot,
cough, rhymes with scoff,
hiccough, rhymes with cup,
bough, rhymes with how,
rough, rhymes with cuff,
and Yough, rhymes with rock, names of a trail, lake, school district, etc., in Pennsylvania on the Youghiogheny (Yawk-uh-gay-nee) River (from Algonquian).

Originally Posted by GinaS (Post 845535)

Interesting thread. :)
I'm surprised to hear people say that English is easy to learn. I would think it would be very difficult, at least to read and write, because of all the differing pronunciations the same letter combinations can produce, or even just individual letters.