Spaßworten...and syllabic conspicuity.
Certainly there's nothing like two weeks' close exposure to non-native English speakers from different countries to bring to mind the fascinating idiosyncracies of English grammar and syntax. One example that comes to mind is the presence or absence of "of" in quantitative indications:
Millions of dollars, but a million dollars or three million dollars. Not a million of dollars, not three million of dollars or three millions of dollars.
Hundreds of people, lots of people, a lot of people and not "a lot people", but many people and not "many of people".
Have some more pie, have much less pie.
Have a little pie, but have a little bit of pie, and not a little of pie.
Do not have a lot pie (have a lot of pie instead).
Nevertheless: piles of gravel, a pile of gravel, three million piles of gravel, a lot of piles of gravel, many piles of gravel, more piles of gravel, fewer piles of gravel, etc.
None of these example strictures is present to prevent or clarify any ambiguity. "Wow, I ate a lot pie!" is completely understandable, as is "It will take three million of dollars to rebuild the bridge"; they're just...against the rules.
A similar phenomenon is the presence, absence and/or selection of prepositions:
I'm in the truck, he's in the car, but we're on the train, on the plane, on the bus, on the streetcar. What's more, I'm in the car on the ride to grandmother's house, but I'm on the bus on the same-route ride to the same place.
Furthermore, I'm sitting in my chair, but I left my wallet on my chair. And I left my pen in the car, but I left my umbrella on the bus.
Then there's the matter of embarking and alighting on all these trips by various means: "Get in the car" meas enter the vehicle. "Get into the car" is acceptable but a little stilted. But, "get out the car" means remove the car from the garage, not remove oneself from the car (if that's what you want, it's "get out of the car"). "Get in the house", yes. "Get into the house", if we must. "Get in the elevator" and "get into the elevator", both OK, but "get out the elevator," "get out the house" and so on are regarded most unfavourably; that "of" is considered necessary when one leaves, but the analogous "to" is optional or undesireable when one arrives.
So, yeah. English. Crazy. Whaddya gonna do???
While looking something up for this post, I found this precious page, which is either facetious or (*gulp!*) not. If not, it reminds me of my equally-precious mother, who went around the UK in 1993 carping about how the locals were pronouncing everything incorrectly.
One especial gem from the page:The OE in the second syllable of "homosexual" is very brief, like the O in "domain". People who have difficulty saying that should use a schwa there (hòe.ma.sék.shue.wal) lest that vowel come out too long in duration and attract too much attention to that syllable.
Oh my. I can just see the traveller's advice hotel card thing, rev.2:
Tips For Your Safety
To be fair, the page does have a large number of words that really can be pronounced correctly and incorrectly (e.g. February = "FEB-roo-Er-ree", not "FEB-yoo-Er-ree"; Err = "Er", not "Air"), but the author cannot seem to refrain from scoldy little editorials ("FEB-yoo-Er-ree: Illiterate"). What's much worse, the author has taken prescriptivism to absurd lengths. A great many Brits will be amused to learn that many of their standard pronunciations are wrong-see "advantage", "answer", "regulatory", "mandatory", "privacy" and many others.
Likewise, I suspect the dwellers of the US East and West Coasts will take great interest in the insistence that there is only one correct pronunciation of such words as "Orange", "Forest" and "Florida" (West Coasters generally rhyme the first syllable with "more", while East Coasters generally rhyme it with "far"). And lots of Coloradans can go to this page and learn they pronounce their own state's name incorrectly.
Prescriptivists with their heads this far up their butts are as obnoxious as the likewise craniorectally-impacted descriptivists when they make braindead claims like "'nukular' is correct because people say it".
At least the page is good for some chuckles and yuks, though.
Millions of dollars, but a million dollars or three million dollars. Not a million of dollars, not three million of dollars or three millions of dollars.
Hundreds of people, lots of people, a lot of people and not "a lot people", but many people and not "many of people".
Have some more pie, have much less pie.
Have a little pie, but have a little bit of pie, and not a little of pie.
Do not have a lot pie (have a lot of pie instead).
Nevertheless: piles of gravel, a pile of gravel, three million piles of gravel, a lot of piles of gravel, many piles of gravel, more piles of gravel, fewer piles of gravel, etc.
None of these example strictures is present to prevent or clarify any ambiguity. "Wow, I ate a lot pie!" is completely understandable, as is "It will take three million of dollars to rebuild the bridge"; they're just...against the rules.
A similar phenomenon is the presence, absence and/or selection of prepositions:
I'm in the truck, he's in the car, but we're on the train, on the plane, on the bus, on the streetcar. What's more, I'm in the car on the ride to grandmother's house, but I'm on the bus on the same-route ride to the same place.
Furthermore, I'm sitting in my chair, but I left my wallet on my chair. And I left my pen in the car, but I left my umbrella on the bus.
Then there's the matter of embarking and alighting on all these trips by various means: "Get in the car" meas enter the vehicle. "Get into the car" is acceptable but a little stilted. But, "get out the car" means remove the car from the garage, not remove oneself from the car (if that's what you want, it's "get out of the car"). "Get in the house", yes. "Get into the house", if we must. "Get in the elevator" and "get into the elevator", both OK, but "get out the elevator," "get out the house" and so on are regarded most unfavourably; that "of" is considered necessary when one leaves, but the analogous "to" is optional or undesireable when one arrives.
So, yeah. English. Crazy. Whaddya gonna do???
While looking something up for this post, I found this precious page, which is either facetious or (*gulp!*) not. If not, it reminds me of my equally-precious mother, who went around the UK in 1993 carping about how the locals were pronouncing everything incorrectly.
One especial gem from the page:The OE in the second syllable of "homosexual" is very brief, like the O in "domain". People who have difficulty saying that should use a schwa there (hòe.ma.sék.shue.wal) lest that vowel come out too long in duration and attract too much attention to that syllable.
Oh my. I can just see the traveller's advice hotel card thing, rev.2:
Tips For Your Safety
- Place valuables on deposit against receipt in our safe.
- Always lock your room when you're in it, and test to make sure the door is locked securely when leaving.
- Avoid displaying expensive jewelery or large amounts of cash in public.
- Avoid attracting too much attention to the "oe" sound in the 2nd syllable of the word "Homosexual".
- Travel in well-lit areas, and know how to find your destination before you set out.
To be fair, the page does have a large number of words that really can be pronounced correctly and incorrectly (e.g. February = "FEB-roo-Er-ree", not "FEB-yoo-Er-ree"; Err = "Er", not "Air"), but the author cannot seem to refrain from scoldy little editorials ("FEB-yoo-Er-ree: Illiterate"). What's much worse, the author has taken prescriptivism to absurd lengths. A great many Brits will be amused to learn that many of their standard pronunciations are wrong-see "advantage", "answer", "regulatory", "mandatory", "privacy" and many others.
Likewise, I suspect the dwellers of the US East and West Coasts will take great interest in the insistence that there is only one correct pronunciation of such words as "Orange", "Forest" and "Florida" (West Coasters generally rhyme the first syllable with "more", while East Coasters generally rhyme it with "far"). And lots of Coloradans can go to this page and learn they pronounce their own state's name incorrectly.
Prescriptivists with their heads this far up their butts are as obnoxious as the likewise craniorectally-impacted descriptivists when they make braindead claims like "'nukular' is correct because people say it".
At least the page is good for some chuckles and yuks, though.