Sloppy Grammar

[Kinvig]

I grind my teeth every time I walk past St Martin's in the Fields - which is every day as it's on my way to Charing Cross station.....

Why?



When the church was refurbished, the then Poet Laureat, Andrew Motion, wrote a poem about it. An extract from this poem can be seen on the well-that-looks-into-the-crypt. And it's got spelling mistakes in it 6 inches high. FFS, this is England, we invented the English language and if our poet bleedin' laureat doesn't even have the common decency to spell his poem correctly, or at the very least, use a spell checker, then why bother. Let's all use txt spk.

Tourists see that poem ffs - what must they think if the ignoramous's that invented the language can't even be bothered to get the language right on a public building in the heart of its capital.


Andrew Motion, you're a disgrace. Notice I wrote "you're" not "your" because I'm not some heathen neanderthal. Halfwit.




EDIT:


btw, the offensive poem:

Andrew Motion’s poem for St Martin-in-the-Fields

Now traveller, whose journey passes through

Tall courts of shifting light, and trudging crowds

Continually worn down but always new.

Your stepping inwards from the air to earth

Winds round itself to meet the open sky

So vanishing becomes a second birth.

Fare well. Return. Fare well. Return again.

Here home and elsewhere share one mystery.

Here love and conscience sing the same refrain.

Here time leaps up. And strikes eternity.

[RatchetJob]

...
Tourists see that poem ffs - what must they think if the ignoramouses that invented the language can't even be bothered to get the language right on a public building in the heart of its capital.
...
[/rant]

sorry couldn't resist

[Kinvig]

sorry couldn't resist

Yeah - I didn't know how to spell it & the spell checker just gave up!

BUT AT LEAST IT WASN'T ON A BIG PUBLIC BUILDING!!!!!

I'm tempted to go round with a can of spray paint and correct via graphitti the poor grammar of London

[Neeja]

If the offending sentence is the highlighted Your stepping inwards from the air to earth, and you're drawing reference to the "Your" with the highlighting in your original post, you should be aware that this sentence is grammatically correct.

It's a gerund form, in which a verb acts as a noun - another example would be the sentence "I hope you don't mind my using your shower". Don't ask why I know this as a reference.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund#Gerunds_preceded_by_a_genitive

[RatchetJob]

graffiti :smt023

[Swin]

In the sense that it's describing the act of your movement, rather than the instruction that "you are" doing something?

[Neeja]

In the sense that it's describing the act of your movement, rather than the instruction that "you are" doing something?

Exactly :)

A non-gerund form of the sentence could read:

The stepping inwards you are doing from the air to earth
Winds round itself to meet the open sky

But that's a bit wordy for a Poet Laureat ;)

[shonadoll]

Exactly :)

A non-gerund form of the sentence could read:

The stepping inwards you are doing from the air to earth
Winds round itself to meet the open sky

But that's a bit wordy for a Poet Laureat ;)

Good, I thought the same thing but didn't know how to explain it!:smt023

[yorkie_chris]

rantrantrantrant

If the offending sentence is the highlighted Your stepping inwards from the air to earth, and you're drawing reference to the "Your" with the highlighting in your original post, you should be aware that this sentence is grammatically correct.

It's a gerund form, in which a verb acts as a noun - another example would be the sentence "I hope you don't mind my using your shower". Don't ask why I know this as a reference.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerund#Gerunds_preceded_by_a_genitive

Lolz pwnt!

[TimTucker]

Notice I wrote "you're" not "your" because I'm not some heathen neanderthal


You might have been a bit too quick to assert that.

In fact the next line, "Winds round itself to meet the open sky", doesn't make sense if the preceding line begins "You're".

[punyXpress]

Is it ' you are ' OR ' of you ' ?
And, Kinvig: if it makes you feel better, he will have been paid for that.

[Ed]

Gerunds are what's left in the coffee pot when you've drunk the coffee. Or is that grounds...

[phil24_7]

For gods sake Ed, you my solicitor!:rolleyes:

[thedonal]

Oh dear. Kinvig seems to have been getting frustrated at his own inexperience of poetic grammar.

Is that ironic, or simply just paradoxical?

[carty]

Indeed, it's the stepping you are (one is) doing 'Your stepping', not supposed to be 'You are stepping' at all.

Have a pint and think about it! :)

[Spiderman]

Ah Kinvig, poor old Kinvig. getting the wrong end of the stick and running with it all this time and now venting his anger about it...only to soon discover that there was nothing to get wound up about in the first place, lol.

We love you dude for getting so annoyed about absolutely nothing, lol.

[Ed]

I've made some coffee now. There's plenty in the pot if anyone would like some. Will report on the gerunds laters.

[Tiger 55]

I didn't know how to spell it & the spell checker just gave up!
May I point you in the direction of a recent publication by Dr Johnson? He is calling it The Dictionary.

Got all the words in all spelled proper gr8. ;)

[Ed]

Coffee's gone cold now, it never tastes the same if you put it in the microwave:(

[Sid Squid]

I'm not sure if Dirk's right or wrong, the language used in the poem isn't entirely clear in getting the meaning across, thus two interpretations are possibly valid, meaning that it may or may not be correct grammar/spelling.

Typical Motion work then, in which case as this is art and we are presumably intended to interpret this personally, then Dirk's is as valid as any other and thus the spelling is incorrect.

Maybe.

[thedonal]

I've made some coffee now. There's plenty in the pot if anyone would like some. Will report on the gerunds laters.

Surely that's brewed? :D

[-Ralph-]

I'm not sure if Dirk's right or wrong, the language used in the poem isn't entirely clear in getting the meaning across

Maybe.

You're right if you only consider that line in isolation, it's not clear, but this guy has that argument nailed I think.

You might have been a bit too quick to assert that.

In fact the next line, "Winds round itself to meet the open sky", doesn't make sense if the preceding line begins "You're".

[punyXpress]

May I point you in the direction of a recent publication by Dr Johnson? He is calling it The Dictionary.

Got all the words in all spelled proper gr8. ;)

One snag :
You need to be able to spell the word in order to find it !
NEway this is about gramar, not speling, isn't it?

[punyXpress]

Surely that's brewed? :D

More likely infused or steeped.
I keep brewing for ale ( or trouble )

[Kinvig]

You're right if you only consider that line in isolation, it's not clear, but this guy has that argument nailed I think.

The quote from the poem on public display is: "Your stepping inwards from the air to earth" the next line *may* appear too (or it may not) - I've normally seen red by this point so haven't checked.

even so if it was, "Your stepping inwards from the air to earth, Winds round itself to meet the open sky"

does it make any sense?

We need to find this poet and burn him till he spills his secrets......

[Von Teese]

Poetic licence at it's greatest!

He explains it rather nicely himself!

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=212

[Stingo]

The quote from the poem on public display is: "Your stepping inwards from the air to earth" the next line *may* appear too (or it may not) - I've normally seen red by this point so haven't checked.

even so if it was, "Your stepping inwards from the air to earth, Winds round itself to meet the open sky"

does it make any sense?

We need to find this poet and burn him till he spills his secrets......

I think what he is referring to is the actual act of stepping...not the person i.e. the one eading it or to whom the poem refers...it is the 'act' of stepping...so the stepping is the thing that winds round itselfto meet the open sky...

[punyXpress]

[QUOTE=Von Teese;2075016]Poetic licence at it's greatest!

http://www.poetryarchive.org/images/temp/poetryarchive/textrender/0-6-0-0-true-20-FFEB2323-FFF3F3F1-270-false-false-cyan-false-false-d75502b92509758525120cd3e23a62b7.gif


Expect he'd say the same about our posts!
But the pay wasn't so hot - unless you're seriously into sherry...

The Poet Laureate's original salary was £200 per year plus a butt of canary (a type of wine). John Betjeman had the tradition revived in 1972, and today's Poet Laureate continues to receive a barrel of sherry