BBC Breakfast show asks viewers on FB about Grammar

[al**bear]

Playing with words - Do you when you should use 'less' and when to use 'fewer'? Let us know about the grammar mistakes that really annoy you.

Loads  have answered

Well, that question for a start :^O

[mustard-tree]

I think it depends on if the object signifies an actual figure.

ie..Electricity -  less energy or fewer units

Money - less cash or fewer pennies

Sometimes, you just know which sounds right.

[upthecreekyetagain]

"I think it depends on if the object signifies an actual figure."

"I think it depends on whether the object signifies an actual figure."

'If' or 'whether' - one requires an action depending on a condition, the other an action in either circumstance.

In some cases they are interchangeable, I don't know if I am right or whether I am wrong.

Why is English grammar so complicated? 😞

[spawnjohnuk]

it's not complicated if you make your own rules up ,as I do lol ,put dots and dashes where you like and you will find even you cant understand what you wrote 😄

[jimbo1lee]

I hate "estuary english" particularly replacing "TH" with "F or a V"     X-(

eg, "I'm 'avin' a baff on fursday" - "I fink sumfinks  bovvered me bruvver"

[sir_arthur_strebe-grebling]

Relatively few people seem to know the difference between less and fewer, and in a sense I can understand that because the opposite is 'more', for quantity or number.

Much less excusable is the frequent mis-use of 'amount': I am fed up with the number of people who say the amount of people!

But of course the problem, as so often, lies at the feet of stupid and lazy teachers who have, for 30 or 40 years now, failed to educate children. Who decided that schools should be places for social engineering instead of for education?

[spawnjohnuk]

I agree with you on that sir art, social engineering but what your missing is those 'taught proper' were also social engineering experiments .

[margaret*e]

Arthurs 30 or 40 years ago was also when teachers stopped correcting spelling mistakes.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Isn't "social engineering" a major part of education?  I certainly think it is.

If education is only about learning facts by rote then replace schools with computers.

[spawnjohnuk]

as it happens creeky,that's exactly what the plan is for future education, computer teaching ,one teacher and a lot of i pads.

[upthecreekyetagain]

I'd much rather see teachers imparting both an ethical and an educated viewpoint.

Of course if you don't agree with the ethical viewpoint of the teacher or teachers then there is a problem.

[upthecreekyetagain]

As a side comment Spawn, what is the point of having a teacher at all if they aren't allowed to socially engineer the children into a disciplined pattern of behaviour so that they actually use the iPads as intended - might just as well let them roam the street.

[spawnjohnuk]

and that's the human race for you. I think one teacher for all is probably the first step towards utopia...no arguing then.

[cee-dee]

How can the teachers impart an educated viewpoint if their education is obviously lacking.

[spawnjohnuk]

in a nutshell cd 🙂 

[upthecreekyetagain]

How can the teachers impart an educated viewpoint if their education is obviously lacking.

They can't - are all teachers lacking in a good education - which came first, the chicken or the egg.

If this generation's teachers are lacking in a good education then we need to look back at previous generations to find the reason why.

[spawnjohnuk]

The reason why is because they were socially engineered differently to suit the new agenda purpose 🙂

[upthecreekyetagain]

See #10 😉

"Of course if you don't agree with the ethical viewpoint of the teacher or teachers then there is a problem."

[cee-dee]

No-one seems to either accept or understand that the problem began when they lowered standards in an effort to "mass produce" teachers.

The establishment of the "Teacher Training Colleges" allowed people in to the profession that were of the "rebellious, anti-establishment" ilk.

Although the following has little to do with the above, it just shows that the person was unsuited to the job:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-22351980

[spawnjohnuk]

Also the class got bigger and more pupils became anti establishment ilk,making it harder to teach even if you were good at the job, respect fell (the main reason) for all and governments started interfering with how you could teach leaving a whole generation not really sure of what they were supposed to be doing.

Today to be fair schooling standard is reasonably good in the main thanks to computers bringing everybody back to a same same level. Spelling is not high on the agenda unfortunately nor is reading as humanities and individual well being is more what they are trying to teach in schools so collage and university is really where education of communication is developed.