OK, off we go:
So
So, the word so should almost never appear as I've written it here. So is an adverb, usually used before and adjective (he is so fat) or an adverb followed by "that" (I am going to punch you so that you know I am unhappy).
But there seems to be a new use which is invading England at the moment and which has already colonised the US. It started in the geek/scientific community and has become the single most annoying thing a techie can say, particularly since so many normal people have picked it up. It goes like this:
Q. "How long have you been studying cellular biology?"
A. "So, I've been studying for seven years."
Q. " And what have you discovered about your chosen career which may help other listeners?"
A. "So, I've learned I would have been a good cartoonist."
The answerer will go through the whole conversation prefacing every sentence with the word so until it becomes white noise and we learn to tune it out. I have not reached that stage and I never will. Please stop doing this when you speak, and NEVER do it when you write. Sometimes it's OK to use idioms in writing but this is not an OK example.
Top Helpers in This Lesson
Not that mine is perfect, but I must have had VERY GOOD TEACHERS as I was painfully and deliberately acquiring English as my second language...I would never have had the guts to put anything up as training but I find it hilarious and can only commend you, Paul.I feel like I have found a soul mate griping about the same thing. I hope you have given a tutorial on my pet hate: the misuse of the words to lay and to lie. My patients always tell me they were laying down...their life, perhaps? And working in Ashton-under - Lyne near Manchester one of my patients proceeded to tell me: "I were just eating me tea, when..."
Coming from South Africa I never thought that i would need an interpreter for English, but there I did!
ReplyWhen ever I hear the word "sat" on telly I shout the word "sitting!" My wife just sighs.
I'll try to do "me" and "I" tomorrow, along with the correction to "me and him went out".
1) It's not 'Lay Lady Lay', it's 'Lie Lady Lie';
2) It's not 'Lay Down, Sally', it's 'Lie Down, Sally'; and
3) It's not 'I Feel Good!', but 'I Feel Well'.
I may not have used the proper punctuation above, but this discussion is about grammar, right? :-)
