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rc47's latest comments
ViewDate:
4th Aug 2020
rc47 commented on:
Is a second national lockdown for vulnerable over 50s the right way forward?I can understand many people breaking the rules as the rules are forever shifting. The above article starts "The Prime Minister is said to be considering ..." But this "considering" and "following the science" is so confusing. We don't want to know what's being considered or whose advice they are following: we needed clear rules from the beginning. We needed everything sooner - PPE, testing, lockdown. We were late introducing everything and thus are so much behind other countries in Europe and have so many more deaths. Blaming the public for not following confusing rules is illogical when the rules are not consistent: is social distancing two metres or "one metre plus"? Who should shield for how long and what exactly does shielding mean anyway? What do you do in a narrow supermarket aisle when someone is standing in front of you - walk past within two metres, wait until they move? Can we meet our families indoors or outdoors? Why are pubs opening but not theatres? How does a discount voucher for McDonalds help fight the virus? I will not blame people for not following confusing rules that keep shifting and often do not make sense.ViewDate:
4th Aug 2020 rc47 commented on:
Which is your favourite Beatles Number 1 Single?There were several aspects to the work of The Beatles that made them stand out from the rest. One is the variety of their songs, from soft romantic ballads to hard rock, from soppy love songs to social commentary. Next is the development in their songwriting and styles from 1963 to 1969: in six short years they progressed from very simple pop songs which now seem commercial but then were refreshing to complex fusions - and they took [dragged] the music scene with them; other groups were [are] very good at one style but kept that style for all their career. From the simplistic "Love Me Do" to the complexity of say, "Across the Universe", it would be difficult to believe it was the same group. Thirdly is the balance within the band with John and Paul almost vying with each other with each song produced [although they kept every song as a Lennon/McCartney song]; while John had the power and commitment, Paul had the musicality to keep the output popular; they had George's excellent guitar playing and experimentation and Ringo's strong rhythm section. Then there is their personalities and humour when interviewed: instead of the miserable image of many bands, they were witty and iconoclastic. All this combined to make them the icons they became. While the Stones kept their greater rock music going and the Beach Boys had cleverer harmonies, the Beatles had so much more.ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English GrammarI agree completely, Megs, and I have taught Creative Writing for years too. I encourage my students to proof read afterwards and, if necessary, to get someone else to do it too. But some really want to correct as they go along and this takes time.ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
AllotmentsI'm in Furness, Lionel, with clay too. I have used muck and lots of digging but there are still many lumps.ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English GrammarEverything is simple once you understand it. Bright students [of all ages] do pick it up after much practice but, when you see incorrect uses all over the place that contradict what you were taught maybe thirty years ago, people can be forgiven for their confusion. For example, do we include apostrophes in D.V.D.s, 100s, M.O.T.s, etc? I would suggest that most signs with these on add an apostrophe incorrectly, but it takes a brave customer to tell the shopkeeper or mechanic they have it wrong. Also, i think you will find teachers do teach the use of the apostrophe. Have a look in a top junior classroom today and you are likely to see charts or pyramids with simplified rules on. But that's another problem: primary teachers necessarily simplify a complex rule for their younger children and it is difficult later to convince a teenager that there is more to it than they were taught in Year 5!ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English GrammarOf course everything you say is right, Fruitcake13, but it all hangs on the phrase "grammatically correct". Who decides what is correct? Is that for all time? For all places from Birmingham to Ottawa to Singapore? Grammar, like spelling and punctuation, has changed over the years and from one place to another. For example, many Brits today abhor the American word "gotten" without realising it was a British English word first and went to the States with the Pilgrim Fathers: they kept it while it fell out of use here. Does that make it correct or not? Similarly, pedants detest the use of the comma splice but it is so common now that it is becoming acceptable [thus correct?].ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English Grammar"It is said"? By Geordies, I guess! ;-) Not sure what you mean by "the original English language" - do you mean Celtic? In which case Welsh and Gaelic are closer. Do you mean Anglo-Saxon? But few of them reached Northumberland. Possibly Norse as those Vikings desolated the north east coast. Just goes to show that the organic nature of English you referred to in your last paragraph means any attempt to capture it and prevent change is doomed to fail.ViewDate:
8th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English GrammarThe problem with apostrophes is that the rules are very complex, especially with the possessive use. Try to explain to someone whose English is weak why it is correct to say "John's wife" [apostrophe before the s] but "James' wife" [apostrophe after the s]. Or why "the dog's bones" means one dog and several bones, but "the dogs' bone" means several dogs are sharing one bone! Even the difference between "its" and "it's" confuses so many. I understand it but I've seen the glazed eyes in the faces of so many students when the topic comes up. Misuse may annoy people [like the Turkish takeaway near me whose sign blazes that they sell "pizza's, kebab's and burger's"!], but sometimes I wonder if we are the only language that uses apostrophes in this confusing way!ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
English GrammarI have taught English for decades to both children and adults. Most people, it seems, have no idea what grammar is, and they seem to think the silly rules Victorians invented are essential to follow. I tell them to split as many infinitives as they want, start sentences with conjunctions and end them with prepositions. These things are NOT grammar: they are stylistic choices. Native speakers of a language make very few grammar errors as they have assimilated the system from infancy. For example, when a three year old says "I runned home" it shows s/he has applied a grammatical rule to a verb, expecting it to be regular. No-one taught her/him to say that and s/he will soon learn instinctively what the correct form is. In some dialects, Standard English grammar is altered in the spoken version [less common in writing] and some will say "I were in town last night" or "when her come back from town". This may not be standard English but for that dialect it is correct.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
How are you finding your iPad?Early ones were poor at battery life but are much improved now.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
How are you finding your iPad?I pay 79p a month for 50gb of cloud storage - now I no longer have to store my music and photos on my hard drive.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Purchase errorYou'll have to be more specific, orchardlane. I've used both systems for decades and much prefer Macs. The compatibility issue is an old one when some software developers and Windows itself did not make the adaptations to other operating systems, but that is a long time ago. Which built-in facilities are you referring to? Calendar? Photos? Are these the apps you don't see the point of? Please elaborate.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
AllotmentsMy advice, Dollie, would to be to have a walk round the allotments, see how many are not being used, talk to any allotmenteers about the empty ones and use that information in your chat to the managers about your position on the waiting list. Sometimes, they need to be kept up to date. We have a waiting list officially of 4/5 years but also about twenty empty or abandoned plots where tenants just gave up after a short time.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
AllotmentsI have had a local council allotment for eight years now and am still learning. I thought silver surfers may want to discuss allotment based topics and so suggested this forum. Any others interested?ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Grammar schoolsOf course we need trades people, jeanmark, especially if they are skilled, qualified and reliable. I would never be negative towards them. But my point was that if you failed your 11+ you had no choice but to move towards manual work. My wife failed her 11+, went to a sec mod and from the age of 12/13 it was expected she would become a typist [I think she was rejected from cookery!]. It was 30 years later when she gained an Open University degree that she showed she was as clever academically as I was: she just was not given the chance at school. On the other hand I went to a grammar school where we were divided into arts and science students at the age of 14 and so were limited in that academic way. I believe children should be given as many and as varied opportunities as possible; thus restricting them before they are 15/16 is iniquitous, and that's what selective education does. It's NOT just the return of the grammar schools Teresa May is promoting, but the concomitant return of the "sink" schools for the rest ... she just cannot be seen to say that.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Is political correctness in our modern society, being taken too far or have we got the balance right? What are your views?I would much rather be correct in anything than incorrect.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Grammar schoolsI attended a grammar school, taught in both grammar and comprehensive schools and find it horrendous that, without any research or evidence, the prime minister wants to bring back a system that failed the majority of our generation. The grammar school I taught in, for example, admitted about 25% of the local area boys and the rest went to three different secondary modern schools, all of which were larger than ours. Thus, three quarters went to a school which started with the premise you were failures for that was what you had in common. No pupil ever transferred to us from those schools and their curriculum was very different: more practical and less academic. In some ways they were prepared for working life better than we were, but only for work in trades and other manual work. That was the assumption about the boys made by the system; it was rigid and inflexible. Do we really want that form of selection at 11 back again?ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Are we being ripped off?Cadbury etc don't really make chocolate. There's so little cocoa in their sweets they should not be allowed to call them chocolate.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Who would you trust more to be the next US President?The argument that the present [or long past in the case of Bill Clinton] is not so good, therefore anything different must be good is what brought the dictators to power in 1930s Europe where the voters wanted non-establishment figures and got tyrants. Trump and his supporters seem to spend their time knocking the establishment and hiding the dearth of their own policies. Is this because they have few or because they don't want the public to know them? He seems to represent fear, bigotry and hopelessness - such a nasty man.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Who would you trust more to be the next US President?It seems as if the Americans have ended up with a choice between a candidate who represents the corporate establishment and one who is blatantly a self-obsessed, racist, lying, inexperienced, sexist, bigoted demagogue. I don't like Clinton but Trump represents the victory of ignorant prejudice over intelligent analysis and I dread to think of his finger on the button. It's now looking as if Trump's boasting of groping women and banning certain religions is being considered less important than some emails that Clinton may or may not have sent and whose content we don't know. If he wins America's global reputation will suffer.ViewDate:
7th Nov 2016 rc47 commented on:
Should the FA defy the poppy ban?Do we know if the players actually want to wear poppies? I passionately believe it should be the individual's choice whether to wear one or not. It should not be up to the FA, FIFA, the BBC or anyone else except the individual player.
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