Comments on: Manglish in print

By: y

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:45:35 +0000

In reply to x. x, I hope your children are being taught not to put prepositions at the end of sentences.

By: x

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:50:59 +0000

With the textbooks, workbooks, etc used by some schools today, the language problem (both English and Maltese) can only get worse.

It seems like one cannot even rely on (supposedly good) independent schools to choose decent schoolbooks for children to make use of. My children’s school is a case in point. I sometimes have to restrain myself from correcting their books and worksheets.

By: ciccio2010

ciccio2010 — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:09:45 +0000

In reply to Edward Clemmer.

Edward, good on you for solving this one – I think you are right. However, the sentence is still too long for my liking.

My view is that a period after “costly”, and a fresh start, would have sounded better.

By: Harry Purdie

Harry Purdie — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:04:50 +0000

Another one from The Times today: ‘New vaccine boosts survival of brain tumours’. Just what we need. How about ‘survival from brain tumours’. So sad.

By: JP Bonello

JP Bonello — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:06:39 +0000

This is called degeneration.

Just like Arabic degenerated into Maltese, Latin into Italian into Maltese, so English is degenerating into Manglish.

It is the effect of isolation. It depletes the genetic, and the linguistic, pool.

It is a scientific phenomenon which, like taxes and death, we cannot avoid.

By: Edward Clemmer

Edward Clemmer — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:01:36 +0000

In reply to ciccio2010.

The resolution is a simple comma (,) placed between the two words: as “considering, if……..”

Al too often, the necessity of proper punctuation is missed by Maltese people when writing English.

People in general fail to understand that written text is not oral speech, where the natural pause would occur where the comma now has been placed. And the pause is essential for parsing and making sense, in this case, where there should have been a comma.

By: interested bystander

interested bystander — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:15:09 +0000

Reading it turned me to drugs.

By: Antoine Vella

Antoine Vella — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:11:16 +0000

Daphne, as you say, it is The Times’s (sub-editor’s?) responsibility to avoid bad grammar, especially in cases where the writer is not a native English speaker.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:57:16 +0000

From one of The Times’ genius Bohemian film reviewers: “The thing that striked me most”.

By: ciccio2010

ciccio2010 — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:53:06 +0000

Daphne, Look at the construction of this sentence. I was lost after “considering if…”

Another solution is to replace the existing exhaust valve seat to a hardened one although this option is more costly but might be worthwhile considering if the engine is being reconditioned or the cylinder head is being removed for other mechanical maintenance or the car is kept as a classic.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101006/local/end-of-the-road-for-lrp-fuel