What is correct SPAG?

[Eli]

New question:

I was watching the H&A episode where Tasha and Robbie leaves the Bay, and when she's telling Martha about it, Tasha says "You're not getting rid of me that easy!".

Wouldn't it be more correct to say "You're not getting rid of me that easily?"

My impression is that she's describing the "getting rid of" part, and getting is a conjugation of get, ergo a verb, so that should make the easy-part an adverb, shouldn't it?

Or am I missing out on some rule here?

I'm a bit confused, cause I've always thought it was supposed to be "You're not getting rid of me that easily", but there are so many people who say "You're not getting rid of me that easy", Isabel Lucas is not the only one at all.

[Jess]

^^ It should, indeed, be, "You're not getting rid of me that easily." It's just the Aussies and their lax grammar.

[Eli]

Lol, thanks

[Barbara]

I thought I'd start a thread on the English language, grammar, customs etc. as I couldn't find one. Feel free to close this thread if a similar thread already exists.

This thread will probably benefit foreigners more than native speakers. But who knows? You might speak English daily and still have a question. Maybe you’re British or Irish and have a question on Australian customs or vice versa.

I had this English teacher in high school, who was really bad at explaining things. Maybe it was because English wasn’t her first language either or maybe she was just bad full stop. But I know it annoyed me and my classmates at times.

Fortunately, there are also great teachers. But sometimes, some teachers are not really good at explaining things or tell you your answer is wrong but they won’t tell you why. How are you supposed to understand if they can’t help you out? Well, now you know what to do. Just ask in here and a native speaker might be able to help you out.

Please don’t use this thread to ask for the correct spelling of a word. Look it up in a dictionary. You will remember it better because you will have made the effort to look it up. Trust me! Here is the link to an online dictionary: click me.

I know people on here are usually very friendly but I’m still going to add this:

Don’t make fun of a member because you think their question is silly. The answer may be obvious to you but this may not be the case for a foreigner. How would you feel if you were learning a language and had some questions and a native speaker would make fun of you? Not good, right? So be nice and please help that member out.

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I have a question.

In my high school and uni, I studied British English (Br. E.), not American English (Am. E.). But we learnt some differences between the two.

A few examples:

- Football (Br. E.) and soccer (Am. E.)

- Lift (Br. E.) and elevator (Am. E.)

- Colour (Br. E.) and color (Am. E.)

- I learnt (Br. E.) and I learned (Am. E.)

- In the UK, you have a ground floor (0) and then a first floor (1). But in the USA, you have the first floor (1) and then the second floor (2). There is no ground floor (0).

I was wondering what words Australians would use. Do you learn Br. E. or Am. E. at school? Or is Australian English also different?

Thank you in advance for replying.

[Eli]

Topics merged

[Lise]

Barbara, I would think that Australians use British English more than American. We mainly use British English in NZ so I would think it's similar in Aussie.

We have lifts not elevators, colour has a u etc.

I think are trying to convert the world into calling Soccer, Football. It's still soccer here.

[Barbara]

Thank you Lise. That's what I thought seeing Australia is part of the Commonwealth. But apparently, you also use some American words.

It's just something I've always wondered. I studied British and American history at uni. I would have loved to study a bit of Australian, NZ and Irish history but that didn't happen.

[John]

Great to see that this discussion has surfaced again. As a former teacher it always interests me.

Certainly Australian English is becoming more "Americanised" due to the domination of our television and movie screens by American Drama. I think that trend will continue.

The other thing that non English speakers need to understand is that English is a "living language". New words are being added to the language all the time, spelling is modified over time to reflect usage. Even rules of grammar change over time as usage changes. What was once "correct English" 20 years ago may not be now. As "owners" of our langauge we have the "right" to change or modify it according to changing community needs.

It is a fascinating area of study.

[Barbara]

^ Don't worry. I know English is a "living language". I actually studied translation at uni. Linguistics was also one of my classes. I speak French and Dutch, which are both "living languages" as well. There are regularly new Dutch spelling rules. We also use some English words, especially when it comes to economy or computer science. This happens more in Dutch though. French linguists tend to be really attached to their language and don't really like using English words, which is a good thing in my opinion because their pronunciation is really bad at times.

Example: When the movie Spider-man was released in France, they always pronounced it "Speederman". They should have just translated it to "L'Homme-Araignée".

Recently, Twilight was released here. Someone asked me if I had seen the movie called "Tweeleet". I took me several minutes to realise that person was talking about Twilight. Thank God there is also a French title which is Fascination.

[Cal]

I don't know what we use here. I think it's a mix between British and American. But we also use Hiberno-English.

The words "Soccer" and 'Football" have slightly different meanings here. "Soccer" is your standard British football, but Irish "Football" is Gaelic So when people here say "I'm going to back home to watch the football" they mean Gaelic*.

*I think the Aussie's have Aussie Rules, which is believed to be an adaption of Gaelic.

Ireland is bilingual, but because we don't have any clear barriers between both languages, people tend to mix them. The radio station I listen to has a presenter who uses English and Irish in the same sentence. It's not confusing at all because it all makes sense, funnily enough.