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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message?
How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? "Many HK Chinese have a peculiar tradition. They like to lecture on others how to 'do man'(behave correctly) when they are more financially successful than the lectured. The assumption is that if the people on whom they lecture could be made to know how to 'do man' as well as they do, the lectured would then be as financially successful as the lecturing. This idea is not only silly, but one that goes to suggest that HK people want to 'play God'! " > How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? Where did you get 'lecture on' from? On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: > How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > lecturing. This idea is not only silly, but one that goes to suggest > that HK people want to 'play God'! " Two grammatical, one typographical. > On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Two grammatical, one typographical. Can you show me? Now I seem to have known one, and this is the one on 'lecture on'. Instead of saying 'lecture on someone', i should have said 'lecture someone on how to ....'. So where are the second and the third mistakes? >> On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > So where are the second and the third mistakes? There is a repeat of the "lecture on" usage error: "if the people on whom they lecture". In both cases use "lecture to" (address the speech "to" people. Or leave out the preposition entirely, at least in frequent usage of the indirect object) The "on" preposition leads readers to look for a topic "on" which the speaker expounds. The teacher lectures(d)(to) the students _on_ human anatomy. I suppose I would call another usage a simple word choice error: "successful as the _lecturing_" should be "...lecturer" but that may be what Cece was thinking of as a typo. This sounds like a practice sentence, but there is some confusion of "lecture" in its ordinary meaning. Is the lecturer simply _reading_ out of his biographyor is he scolding, or otherwise imposing his opinion on others. I get a sense of cultural interpretation here, because teachers try to encourage good behavior to their pupils, but that would be younger students, and they would not be in the class voluntarily. >> On 50 >>> On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > >The teacher lectures(d)(to) the students _on_ human anatomy. There is maybe a slight difference between "to lecture to" and "to lecture". To me, "to lecture to" means "to teach", "to present a lesson" etc, while "to lecture" means "to preach to", "to scold", "to tell/tick off" etc. In the context above, I think that "to lecture" would be the better choice. >I suppose I would call another usage a simple word choice error: >"successful as the _lecturing_" should be "...lecturer" but that may be >what Cece was thinking of as a typo. Maybe you could say "those lecturing" (a short form of "those people who are lecturing"). >This sounds like a practice sentence, but there is some confusion of >"lecture" in its ordinary meaning. Is the lecturer simply _reading_ out >of his biographyor is he scolding, or otherwise imposing his opinion on >others. Yes. "To lecture" would mean "to scold", "to impose an opinion", which I think is what the "more financially successful" people are doing. >I get a sense of cultural interpretation here, because teachers try to >encourage good behavior to their pupils, but that would be younger >students, and they would not be in the class voluntarily. >  SignatureIan On May 26, 10:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > - Show quoted text - In "lecture on others," delete the "on." In "people on whom they lecture," delete the "on." Note: with no preposition, the implication is that the lecturing are telling people what they must do, that they are brainwashing the lectured. If the implication is to be that the lecturers are instructing or informing, teaching rather than commanding, change "on" to "to." Whichever, never use "on sb" with "lecture." The typographical error is the omission of a space before the open parenthesis. On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: > How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > lecturing. This idea is not only silly, but one that goes to suggest > that HK people want to 'play God'! " Many HK Chinese have a peculiar tradition: They like to lecture less successful people on how to behave properly. They believe that if only they learned from them, they would be just as rich. This is silly, it suggests that HK people want to play God. In message <06371c63-c722-4ee6-bb9c-fc65ac01bfed@n19g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, Bob G <mrbobjames@yahoo.com> writes >On May 26, 3:12 am, "fyfp...@gmail.com" <fyfp...@gmail.com> wrote: >> How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > >This is silly, it suggests that HK people want to play God. Dare I suggest that the last line should be two sentences? [Yes, I do dare!] "This is silly. It suggests that HK people want to play God." Alternatively, maybe a semicolon (which is something I never use myself)? "This is silly; it suggests that HK people want to play God." Or "This is silly, as it suggests that HK people want to play God." SignatureIan > Bob G writes >> "fyfp...@gmail.com" wrote: >>> How many grammar mistakes are there in the following message? >>> [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Or > "This is silly, as it suggests that HK people want to play God." There's also: "This is silly -- it suggests that HK people want to play God." SignatureSkitt (AmE) |
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