When did people stop dying
and start passing?
And why?
When did children stop losing
hair-ribbons and start
loosing them?
When did verbs
such as will and shall, can and could,
would and should, all become confused?
Grammarly gives the whys and wherefores
and even tells us how.
So now I only know not when.
It was the last night of the Proms last night. As usual, Rule Britannia was sung with gusto, this time by German tenor Jonas Kauffman. I had the subtitles on, and at each repetition, I read that Britons never never never WILL be slaves, while the chorus and audience of prommers all bellowed “Britons never never never SHALL be slaves” the correct version! Shame on you BBC subtitlers!
Vivinfrance's Blog 
I absolutely love this!!!!!
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The slope used to be more gradual, but is becoming more precipitous–and more slippery–on a daily basis, it seems. I try, while listening or reading, to curb my curmudgeonliness but, sadly, often fail. Thus, My Beloved Sandra must hear me rail more and more frequently (and vociferously) these days.
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Ugh! Some of my favourite bugbears!
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Couldn’t agree more, Viv! 🙂
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Their literacy has gone the same way as the polished accents one used to get on BBC, now replaced with often incomprehensible local versions of the language.
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I usually prefer an accent which can tell me something about the speaker, but am not so keen on the cut glass version. That said, clarity comes from good diction, and this is frequently missing.
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The ones that drive me bonkers are ‘to’ instead of ‘too’, ‘lay’ instead of ‘lie’, ‘it’s’ instead of ‘its’, and most of all ‘there’ instead of ‘their’ or ‘they’re’. It’s not because I’m a grumpy old woman, because it has *always* annoyed me. If I was able to learn correct usage why wasn’t everyone else? End of rant….
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Absolutely. I am vandal enough to correct these and other ignorant errors that I find in my reading.material.
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I think it’s just as well I don’t have editorial access to the blogs of other people. I do edit comments on my blog where the bloopers are too hard to ignore, which is perhaps rude, but hey, it’s my blog!
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so do I.
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I remember my teacher, when I was about 8 or 9, explaining the difference between will and shall with the story of the foreigner who fell overboard from a British ship. He yelled, “No one shall save me, I will drown!” So they let him.
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I love it! Various ‘experts’ maintain that ‘shall’ is no longer used nor necessary. They should consider the different responses to be expected from the following two questions:
‘Shall I sit down?’
‘Will I sit down?’
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My Irish secretary used to say “Will I sit down?” 🙂
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Part of that charming Irish habit of turning most statements into questions!
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I am especially attached to Shall – this is a lovely word – such a genteel sound. For you Viv, I shall use my Shall today as often as possible! c
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Thank you, Celie and I shall look out for it.
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I know. It ‘literally’ drives me mad. 😉
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I sometimes wonder who taught today’s English teachers our beautiful language.
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