Wednesday, January 20, 2010

#1143 There Is + Plural, Misspellings, World Junior Surfing Championship In NZ, Haemorrhoids


Show 1143 Wednesday 20 January
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi I'm Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

The other day someone left a comment – Christopher, I think – Saying that it drives him mad when people use there’s, as in there is, and follow it with a plural. And he wanted me to talk about it. So thank you for the suggestion.

As you know, language is always changing and we don’t always like the way it changes. This seems like it’s one of his pet peeves, but it’s not actually one of mine.

I would say that the use of here or there is with a plural noun is very common and acceptable in informal situations.

And I use it myself. For example, I might say: There’s some peanuts in the cupboard if you need a snack.

… when officially it should be: there are.

And when I say acceptable, I mean that most people wouldn’t look at me strangely if I said that – although Christopher might be annoyed.

But they would look at me strangely if I said, for example: There are peanuts some the in cupboard if you need a snack.

… because the word order’s wrong, and it’s not acceptable in any situation.

As for formal situations, I’d recommend sticking with the classic style: there are with plurals.

For example, if you’re talking to a friend, you might say: There’s some things I want to talk to you about.

But if you’re emailing your boss, or a client, you might say: There are some things I’d like to talk to you about.

So, sorry Christopher, I can’t advocate super gluing people’s mouths shut … but I do feel your pain because there are other things which annoy me.



click here

Speaking of common mistakes and pet peeves, today I recommend you check out this page, which someone recommended to me.

It’s a chart showing some of the common misspellings that some native English speakers make, and others get infuriated by.

It’s pretty funny and it might actually be useful if need some help remembering how to spell words such as weird and definitely.



STICK NEWS


The International Surfing Association has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
This year, for the first time ever, the competition is being held in New Zealand.
It’s being held at a beach called Piha until the 28th of January.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 20th of January.
Kia ora.



Word of the Day

Today's word is haemorrhoids (US spelling: hemorrhoids).

This is a word from the poster about misspellings.

And this is a tricky word to spell too. Not that you’re likely to spell it … or say it, very often.

So, what are haemorrhoids?

a swollen vein or group of veins in the region of the anus



conversations with sarah
#723 Are you going to go and watch?

Step 1: Read Bob’s lines.
Step 2: Repeat Bob's lines and talk to Sarah.

Bob Where’s the surfing competition being held?

Sarah In Piha.

Bob Are you going to go and watch?

Sarah Yeah, I’m planning to go and have a look – for one day at least. And I went to the opening ceremony today.

Bob How was that?

Sarah It was good. There was a parade and a pōwhiri and the sand ceremony was really cool.

Bob What was that?

Sarah Each team bought some sand from a beach in their country and they poured it into a container together to represent coming together in peace … or something like that … it was really cool.



More footage from the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship:













links



music

show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: The Jazz Woman
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Jazzpospolita
album: Live Studio Recording
track: Tribute Aerobit
from: Warsaw, Poland
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