Intuitive Grammar Develops By Age Six, Say Researchers
ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2008) — Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that children as young as six are as adept at recognising possible verbs and their past tenses as adults.
In a study conducted by the University's Child Language Study Centre, children aged between six and nine were given sentences containing made-up verbs such as 'the duck likes to spling' and were asked to judge the acceptability of possible past tense forms. The study focused on the process the children used to come to their conclusions rather than whether their answers were right or wrong.
They found that the children's judgements followed a virtually identical pattern to those of linguistics students who took part in a similar study at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the US.
University of Liverpool psychologist, Ben Ambridge, said: "Previous studies have concentrated on getting children to produce past tense forms for made-up words. This study is unique in that the children were asked to judge the acceptability of different forms that we gave them.
"One of the main questions raised when looking at children's ability to pick up their native language is whether abstract symbolic rules or the use of memory and comparison affect how a child attributes past tenses to words.
Read more...
Monday, April 28, 2008
Well, Isn't That Interesting
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Drudge Report
To drudge means "to perform mean or servile tasks; to work hard or slavishly; to toil at laborious and distasteful work," the Oxford English Dictionary reports.
To dredge means "To collect and bring up (oysters, etc.) by means of a dredge; to bring up, fish up, or clear away or out (any object) from the bottom of a river, etc. Also fig."
They meant to use dredge in its figurative sense--to reach into the muck and pull up all that sordid old stuff.
We suspect the confusion comes from the popular "Drudge Report," a conservative blog that revels on the silty bottom of journalism and is considered a must-read by many in the business. How interesting that two words that sound alike are now being conflated elsewhere in the media.
It gives us a whole new word: "to drudge: v., to dig up unpleasant mud and sling it at a political opponent." It could be used by liberals and conservatives alike. Oh, joy.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Attention to "Derail"
Job seekers' spelling shockers
DAVID NANKERVIS
April 20, 2008 12:30am
THE alarming extent of Australia's literacy crisis has been revealed by job seekers who apply for a "roll" as a "manger" on covering letters that end with "C U later".
Some job seekers cannot even spell the word "error" correctly, the Sunday Mail has discovered.
Business and language experts say the stunning examples of poor spelling and grammar are indicative of a literary "laziness" that has become a "malaise" in society.
Experts have blamed a lack of classroom discipline for the crisis, with too many school leavers not equipped with basic English skills such as spelling. [SCHOOL LEAVERS? WE LOVE AUSTRALIAN IDIOMS.]
Adelaide recruitment firm Mps People Solutions discovered a host of horror spelling blunders in a study of thousands of job applications.
Poor spelling, incorrect use of apostrophes and mixing of Australian and American spelling were the most common errors found in applications, Mps operations manager Robert Godden said.
Read more...
We "Can't" Get Enough
Monday, April 21, 2008
To Make Asses of Ourselves
The excerpt below describes how a public-relations specialist recommends spinning a crisis such as this:
Going public in the midst of a big crisis is always a risk, said Dick Amme, a public relations and crisis communications specialist from Winston-Salem, N.C. Amme said he advises clients to asses the situation, gather the facts, fix the central problem and then "get truth of the situation to the media as quickly as possible." (Read more...)Um, that should be "assess." Asses are donkeys. As far as we know, these people only married humans.
Show Me the Grammar
The punchline? Fifty-six percent of the voters surveyed on the site said they didn't care about the hyphen. Oh, sadness!Hyphen missing from new Missouri license plates
By MARCUS KABELThe Associated PressMissouri will not correct a grammatical error in new license plates because that's how voters want it to be, a state Department of Revenue spokesman said Friday.
The plates featuring a bluebird, the official state bird, are due out in June despite the fact that they're missing the hyphen in the state's nickname, "Show-Me State."
David Griffith, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Revenue, said they won't correct the mistake because that's how it looked when voters chose it in an online contest last year."If the people want it that way, that's what we're going to deliver for the people," Griffith said.
The rules of grammar require the hyphen, Missouri Southern State University English professor Dale Simpson said. "If you have a compound modifier before a noun, it would be hyphenated," he said.
About 2 million of the plates have been produced so far, but another 10 million have yet to be made to fulfill demand for the next two years, Griffith said. The department could reorder the remaining majority of plates to include the hyphen but does not plan to do so, he said.
More...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
We'd Like Just Desserts
This headline, however, should read "just deserts." That's how the expression should be spelled. Deserts are what you deserve. The words share the same root.
Desserts, on the other hand, are rarely handed out as punishments. We do know some people who try to pass sugar-free Jell-O off as dessert. That's pretty punishing in our book.
Iowa pranksters get just desserts: 3,000 forks in their yard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- When known pranksters Rick and Marilyn Jones left town for a wedding, neighbors seeking payback eyed their property and decided to stick a fork in it - a few thousand forks, in fact.
Tom and Paula Tschudi planted 3,000 white plastic forks in the Jones' yard and dangled more from the roof, fence and garage.
"We just wanted to do something funny to them, because every time we leave, they pull some prank on us," said Paula Tschudi, who promised to help pick up the forks.
Over the years, the Joneses have strung beer cans like holiday lights around the Tschudis' home, put a for-sale sign in their yard and strung yellow crime-scene tape around chalk outlines of bodies on the sidewalk.
As the Tschudis, their two children and another neighborhood family planted the forks Sunday, one passer-by asked what they were doing.
"We told him we were aerating their lawn," Paula Tschudi said with a laugh.
A Day for Vizzinis
Christie: Unbelievable! They're as diluted about their lives as they are about thoseClearly, the word here should be deluded.
HIDEOUS clothes.
Then we went to IMDB and found this description of the movie "ET." (No judging, please.)
It is a film experience that is indefeasible.
What did the writer mean? Indescribable? Indefensible? Indivisible? With liberty and justice for all? We have no idea...though he really liked the movie and gave it 10 out of 10 stars.
A Grammar Fable
Enjoy this dose of wit from the one and only Craig Conley.
The Grammarian and the Dingbat
One fine evening a strolling man heard a cry for help from the bottom of a deep well.
"What's the matter?" he called down.
"I am a grammarian," came the reply. "I've fallen and I can't get up."
"Hold on, professor, and I'll fetch up a rope," said the man.
"One moment, please!" called the grammarian. "Your grammar and diction are faulty; be good enough to amend them."
"In that case, I'll go for a long dash," said the man.
"It's a hyphen, you dingbat!" cried the grammarian, but the man was long gone, and for good.
(inspired by a Sufi tale told by Rumi, as collected in Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah)
Hail Mary, Full of Grapes
That would sort of explain why these nuns are "clustered," instead of "cloistered."
Thanks to Hillary Caws-Elwitt for the screen shot.
