Grammar standards are sliding

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IN the Mercury (July 17), Monique Hore writes about literacy and new initiatives for its improvement.

What chance do students have, however, when they are bombarded with poor use of English on television and, indeed, in the printed press?

For instance, the expression “for free” is in everyday use but is fundamentally grammatically incorrect.

An item is either “free”, “free of charge”, “at no cost”, et cetera, but cannot be “for free”. Also, how often do we hear about “the amount of people”, or “the amount of goals”?

These should be “the number of people” or “the number of goals”. Amount refers to a quantity of something, not a number of something.

Number should be used when the speaker is referring to a countable noun. I could go on. plain about the abuse of the English language. My latest moan is that the word “fewer” seems to have dropped off the branch and I wince every time I read “less people” or whatever. If there is a specific number of objects “fewer” is correct and is so much more elegant. I have given up complaining about “disinterested” instead of “uninterested” and “reticent” instead of “reluctant”. It would have made Shakespeare weep.

None of us are perfect

TOTALLY agree with Ross Butler (Letters July 14). This bit of English grammar is not difficult and could easily be mastered, even by a prime minister. As Mr Butler points out, the incorrect pronoun would not have been chosen, had Malcolm Turnbull been speaking of himself alone. A simple test is to try out the pronoun on A new way to have your say themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website. that premise. No need to bother your pretty little head about subject or object.

On the second point Mr Butler, again, I agree. The Letters Editor could find room for some corrections. So let’s start with Mr Butler’s letter. Mr Butler, to avoid a grammatical error, you may wish to reconsider the use of the word “of”. With that word comes the possessive “s” — as in “a statement of Mr Turnbull’s”.

This is to emphasise the fact that the statement was made by Mr Turnbull and not about him. To make it absolutely correct, grammatically, I would have used the word “by”, as in “a statement by Mr Turnbull”. Still, a good effort: eight out of ten

Start of a long list

ROSS Butler (Letters July 14) — asked that you put out a call for readers to comment on the bad grammar they see and hear. I think my old English teacher would be turning in his grave these days. I recently saw reported that the police stopped “X” number of drivers while talking on their mobile phones.

It made me wonder why the police had stopped the drivers as no explanation was given in the report. I also notice that many products and advice are available for free. Surely these things are either free or are for nothing? Of course, it is all for nothing that we who abhor bad grammar are trying to change things. We will never be free from it as long as much of the poor grammar is coming from advertisements and the daily press since the belief is held that these sources are infallible.

Eerie prediction

IN 1642, Abel Tasman said Van Diemens Land could only be inhabited by freaks and monsters. How right he was! Only freaks and monsters could be as destructive as our politicians and big corporations.

Religion the key

AS Australia moves away from Christianity, and gives more prominence to other religions, we will lose our stability and fall into deeper problems.

Second generation

OF course there would be an extension in the fox program, the adults would have cubs by now.

We’re full

HOBART is full of buildings, the streets and car parks full of cars. Hundreds of people employed to work in the proposed high rise, where do they come from, how do they get there?

Gridlocked streets

DAVEY and Macquarie Streets — the longest car parks in the country.