Pedants' Paradise

[Pabmusic]

Just reading an article on the BBC website (not written by a BBC person) and saw:

"Dependant on the cause ..., it may be best to ..."

Doesn't that combine two separate mistakes? Dependent on the cause/Depending on the cause?

I think "Depending on the cause…it might be best to…" would be better.

But who am I to say?

[french frank]

I think "Depending on the cause…it might be best to…" would be better.

But who am I to say?

I'd have said it was the only 'grammatical' way: dependant wrong because that's a noun. Dependent on? I checked the OED for such a construction but couldn't find one.

'The correct treatment ... is dependent upon the cause/depends on the cause."

'We shall go on Wednesday, depending on the weather'

We have planned the barbecue for Wednesday, but we are dependent upon the weather being fine'

Isn't one use adjectival and the other adverbial? In which case they aren't completely interchangeable.

Where are the Grammar Police when you want them?

[Pabmusic]

...Where are the Grammar Police when you want them?

At least it wouldn't be the Latin Grammar Police (nobody expects…).

[Don Petter]

BBC News site headline tonight:

Fire in cafe cuts off Sandbanks peninsular

The adjective is repeated three more times in the article.

[french frank]

Fire in cafe cuts off Sandbanks peninsular

It's been corrected on the main news site, but the clues remain:

[Don Petter]

It's been corrected on the main news site, but the clues remain:

AArh! Well that be ow they pronounce it in Darset?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Changing the subject, which words can you think of which have more than two of the same letter consecutively?

Such as:
InverneSSShire,
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwryrndrobwLLLLantysili ogogogoch.

Any others?

[vinteuil]

Changing the subject, which words can you think of which have more than two of the same letter consecutively?

Such as:
InverneSSShire,
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwryrndrobwLLLLantysili ogogogoch.

Any others?

... hmm. Depends what you mean by "words" (as my linguistics tutor wd've said... )

Inverness is a distinct entity, as is Shire.

As for the fakery that is Llanfair P G - evidently Bwll and Llan are distinct.

And I suspect you are looking for words in English, rather than Welsh, German, Turkish....

[Pabmusic]

Changing the subject, which words can you think of which have more than two of the same letter consecutively?

Such as:
InverneSSShire,
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwryrndrobwLLLLantysili ogogogoch.

Any others?

Can't think of any, but queueing has five vowels in a row (appropriate to this time of year). And abstemious (sensible for Prommers ) has all five vowels in order.

As does facetious

[Don Petter]

Can't think of any, but queueing has five vowels in a row (appropriate to this time of year). And abstemious (sensible for Prommers ) has all five vowels in order.

As does facetious

I was going to try to think of some more, adventitiously, but that repeats a vowel, so I thought it might be considered as sacrilegious if we are being ultraserious.

[gurnemanz]

Can't think of any, but queueing has five vowels in a row (appropriate to this time of year). And abstemious (sensible for Prommers ) has all five vowels in order.

As does facetious

Vowels backwards only works with "subcontinental"

[french frank]

Vowels backwards only works with "subcontinental"

Congratulations! I've been puzzling over that one (trying to cap 'all the vowels in order'), but had got no further than UN*O*I*E*AL/ANT

[french frank]

You can take pedantry too far, but I do feel that sometimes you have to take a stand ...




Very strange - I can see the URL of the picture, but no picture ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You can take pedantry too far, but I do feel that sometimes you have to take a stand ...

BRILLIANT!

[jean]

Fire in cafe cuts off Sandbanks peninsular

Reminds me of the strange substance known as Belgium chocolate.