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Date:         Sat, 7 Dec 2002 11:16:51 EST
Reply-To:     Cotsford@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Cotsford <Cotsford@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: English lessons
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I may be guilty of over -generalising but where I live in the South East, most Americans I hear speaking seem to be oblivious of the difference between adjectives and adverbs. Adverbs seem to be unknown or are used by accident. On top of that they seem to use double negatives as the rule .

They often say "I don't got no Westy" and "I could care less" etc., which indicates they are saying exactly the opposite of what they mean to say. i.e. "I don't have a Westy" and "I couldn't care less". Some seem to be proud of their speech patterns and the fact that they can't spell .

I once asked my childrens' English teacher if she ever corrected their spoken English. She replied "No, we wouldn't want to embarass anyone".

Go ahead, submit your corrections and suggestions. Those who want to improve their English will take note. Otherwise your efforts are largely wasted. Good fodder for fun though !

cheers, Steve Cotsford Columbia SC


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