Do you know English?

[Tps222]

I caught it, but only because of the fact that I'm currently typing a paper in which a rise in the standard of living is one of the topics I'm writing about.

PS: English is easy.

[Squeek]

It's the same as "less" and "fewer", "quantity" and "amount", etc.

But really it's stupid as hell. Oh no I started my sentence with a conjunction and forgot to use a comma to separate independent clauses! Who will police the grammar police?!

Also, Guido, one could argue that the "grammar error" in the sentence is that they do not specify the "standard". For all you know, the standard "cost" of living has increased. Cost is something to which you can apply numbers, correct?

So, arguing that it's a sentence fragment really isn't as silly as you thought, eh?

You can justify making grammatical corrections to any sentence ever written, whether it's correct or not. That's why things like this are stupid. In fact, I completely disagree with the entire English curriculum throughout elementary and middle school. But then again, I disagree with a lot of things in our education system, so we'll leave it at that.

[sumzup]

+1 support for Squeek as Secretary of Education

[Reach]

A standard can most certainly have a value. The question is not fair, given someone from another country might not know of the cultural context that 'standard' is referring to here, thus leaving no error to correct in the sentence.

I don't see the point of something like this. Getting the answer to this has more to do with process of elimination and test taking knowledge than actual knowledge. Let's face it - most people butcher the English language in day to day speech or when they write something.

[FishFishRevolution]

Canada: There are Grammar Police after all.

[rushyrulz]

-only read the OP post-

I got them both right. The first one took me about 10 seconds to examine all the possible avenues, but then I figured increased is only used for numbers or specific ideas.
I originally changed it to be 'The standard of living has increased from ...___ to ___(fill in the blanks), but then I guess risen is the easier way

[Arch0wl]

I think the distinction between "fewer" and "less" as well as "increased" and "risen" are unnecessary and pedantic distinctions. It's as pointless as counting "Few like music more than I" correct and "Few like music more than me" incorrect. The English language, as it becomes more internationalized, will obviously become more simplified. Trying to institutionalize English grammar to such an extent that "has increased" is incorrect is hopeless. The use of language is to express meaning... the "fewer"/"less" debate does not change the critical meaning at all because both essentially mean "a given quantity has become less than what its original quantity was" and when you get into issues like "I" versus "me" you're arguing over language that references language.

edit:

Values increase; standards don't have values. Rather, standards rise.

A common measure of standard of living is HDI value.

[Arch0wl]

think the amount of grammatical rules English currently has should be lessened for that reason.

Besides, there are a ton of issues with syntactical ambiguity ("Time flies like an arrow," "A pretty little girl's school") in the English language as it is. If anything, we should be -adding- to the English language instead of preventing certain usages which in the larger picture are totally insignificant.

Why are emoticons an informality, for example? If I say "This file sucks." then I seem authoritative and serious versus "This file sucks XD" which implies more that I enjoy it somewhat and light-heartedly think it sucks or "This file sucks :P" which implies that I like the person making the file but nevertheless think it sucks and have to face that reality. The exclamation point is standardized, so why not emoticons? This adds significantly more meaning and clarification to a sentence than specifying I/me.

[Arch0wl]

There's also the instance of modifying the phonetics of a word to express a certain emotion. If I say "boooooring" or "LMFFFAAAAOOO" I mean two distinct emotions that are difficult to express otherwise.

[igotrhythm]

Originally Posted by Xx{Midday}xX

That's wrong. It should be Eigo wa wakarimasen. Gomennasai. Demo, eigo wa tanoshiku arimasen.
英語はわかりません。ごめんなさい。でも、英語は楽しくありません。



Also incorrect. The structure itself is wrong in the standard sense (may be ok in a colloquial fashion).

Should be Arigatou. Demo, kore wa nihongo desu.
ありがとう。でも、これは日本語です。

or

Arigatai kedo, kore wa nihongo desu.
ありがたいけど、これは日本語です。

And wow. English, was more complicated than I thought? Wow.

Excellent. Now we have a Japanese grammar Nazi. XD

[Xx{Midday}xX]

Originally Posted by igotrhythm

Excellent. Now we have a Japanese grammar Nazi. XD

As one who has never taken official Japanese education, I would like to keep myself void of all incorrect Japanese. I rely on books, manga, anime, drama, music, internet, etc. to achieve my Japanese knowledge. It would be helpful if people like dag12, suika510, and jimerax spoke to me in Japanese, but I don't need to bother them now, do I?

[Nyokou]

I want to go to a university in Canada.

Uh oh.

[Corbin Wells]

That's pretty interesting, and a little harsh. But now that I think about my neighborhood and the people that speak around me (within a 20 mile diameter...) I feel they deserve to take this test for their complete butchery of the English language.

>__<

[Squeek]

People aren't things. Use "who" when referring to people, not "that". =D

Also for anyone curious, Arch didn't triple post. The posts he replied to were deleted.

[-Barista-]

Whenever I see this thread, I get this fleeting image of Samuel L. Jackson. . .

Crazy.

[boondocks77]

Noticing from yesterday, this thread appears to have gone from discussing the fact that immigrants are being pushed to the limit, English-wise, to "I'm sorry to say, but you suck at grammar bud."

[KlingPosnot]

Originally Posted by Xx{Midday}xX

As one who has never taken official Japanese education, I would like to keep myself void of all incorrect Japanese. I rely on books, manga, anime, drama, music, internet, etc. to achieve my Japanese knowledge. It would be helpful if people like dag12, suika510, and jimerax spoke to me in Japanese, but I don't need to bother them now, do I?

Same here...except my grandpa is Japanese...so I have a little bit of an advantage there :P (thus I have learned that by saying "nihongo o wakarimasu" you are basically referring to the action of understanding, while "nihongo wa wakarimasu" is referring to the capability to understand...thus both work ^.^)

[boondocks77]

Originally Posted by KlingPosnot

Same here...except my grandpa is Japanese...so I have a little bit of an advantage there :P (thus I have learned that by saying "nihongo o wakarimasu" you are basically referring to the action of understanding, while "nihongo wa wakarimasu" is referring to the capability to understand...thus both work ^.^)

Have you taken / do you know what the TOEFL is?
If not, get better at English than the moderators on this site than come back to this thread proclaiming your magical Japanese skills.

It was funny the first time you posted a foreign language, maybe even the second. It went from a joke to a bash-fest between you and Midday.

[-Barista-]

Q: Eiga o nomimasenka?

A: hai, ikimasu. oishii desu.
;D

[sumzup]

Since when was this thread titled "Do you know Japanese"? (side note: is it ?" or "?; also is the same rule true for commas?)

Anyways, I think immigrants in general should be forced to acquire at least a minor grasp of the national language; while some accommodation can be made, there is a point where enough is enough. As long as effective communication is possible, though, there's no point making everyone a de-facto expert in (of?) the nuances of English.