These grammar issues make me mad - when are we Indians going to learn English properly? Rediff, you need to hire writers who know the nuances of English, rather than those who just write "mentally" in the Indian languages and then translate.
In the case of this article, the annoying sentence is: "Both teams had met in the final of the 2012 Indian Premier League, when Kolkata defeated Chennai by five wickets." It ought to be written as: "The two teams had met in the final of the 2012 Indian Premier League, when Kolkata defeated Chennai by five wickets." Or, "These two teams had met in the final of the 2012 Indian Premier League, when Kolkata defeated Chennai by five wickets."
Really - there's a significant difference in the cases you use "both" and you use "the two". Request you to hire writers who know how to express in English in place of those who translate Indian languages into half-baked English.
This cannot be a typo, by the way. This is clearly a case of inadequate knowledge of the language in which you are attempting to cater to your (wide) audience. Incredible.
And worst of all, I see this mistake repeated in Rediff, as well as repeated in way too many websites in which the content is created by Indian writers writing in English.
Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by kareem on Oct 03, 2014 11:14 PM
Awesome, what you wanna prove here?? you English knowledge?? pity on you, what a people?? in England beggars speak better than you, what a brain?? keep it up..
Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Kuntal Dey on Oct 04, 2014 12:40 AM
Sorry but that takes it to a personal level. Let's not get into a shouting match?
In general, I see this shouting-match attitude prevalent in many places including here (Rediff). Let's avoid the slur and keep this a cleaner place?
Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by kareem on Oct 03, 2014 11:19 PM
I don't think grammar issue made you mad.. I think something else. Ego?could be.. where did you learn English?? what is your mother tongue??why you so particular about grammar?..
Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Kuntal Dey on Oct 04, 2014 12:46 AM
The grammar is, indeed, driving me mad. And maybe you are right - it is not just the grammar. I mean, the grammar is the direct cause. The indirect cause, though, is the general inability and/or the lack of desire to attain the best possible standard.
My mother tongue is Bengali. But that's irrelevant in this case.
I am particular about grammar because it hurts the eyes and ears otherwise. Think of it - whatever your mother tongue might be - how would you feel to go through poorly structured content? Terrible, I am sure. So if you are accustomed to English thick and thin (and by that, I don't mean the typical English that most folks tend to speak but professional-quality and literature-quality English) you would hate to keep reading the language in an abused form in such a major number of articles.
Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Chaitanya on Oct 04, 2014 02:57 AM
@Kuntal Dey:
I genuinely appreciate your attitude of expecting better quality in the content you read.
I also appreciate you boldly and gracefully replying to some taunts.
I have a couple of comments, though:
You say "when are we Indians going to learn English properly?". I'm sure you had intended to criticize the author's English, and not intended to criticize how the author had learnt his/her English. So, perhaps you should have actually said "when are we Indians going to learn proper English?" Did you make a mistake? Don't worry, it's a minor one, which doesn't irritate or bother most people.
The other comment I have is: anyone who tends to get so irritated on such fine aspects of language, more so the English language, even more so its usage in India, gets a lot of my sympathy, and also gets a word of free advice from me: "just chuckle and let go". One of the problems is, What's "right" and what's "wrong" in a language, is something that changes fast, more so in a widely spoken language such as English.
Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Kuntal Dey on Oct 04, 2014 11:52 AM
@Chaitanya, very nice and mature comment. Thank you. We need people like you around :-)
By "properly", I had meant the process - I think the tendency to be insincere while following processes is the core irritant, and the end-result is just the manifestation. But yes, "proper English" is a better way to put it as far as the outcome is concerned, absolutely - and as a reader of a professional website, "proper English" is what I ought to be concerned rather than "learn English properly" I guess, so in principle you are spot on.
Yes, you are right, I generally chuckle and let go. Somehow, yesterday, I came across this mistake on 3 different webpages, all authored by Indians. That had really bothered me.
Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Kuntal Dey on Oct 04, 2014 12:38 AM
I don't want to prove anything. As a reader, I want to read and feel happy with what I am reading. As a content provider, Rediff (and any content provider for that matter) ought to feel happy providing content written in an error-free manner.
Isn't that a basic norm of journalism?
By the way, taking it in a slightly different angle, would anyone want their children to read wrong English and grow up learning wrong? No, right?
So, rather than asking whether I am ego-driven (I am not), how about standing up and asking for quality from the content provider? I suggest you take my post in the right spirit and do that. It is really easy to mess things up by attacking me (and my ego that you seem to imagine), but what's that going to bring you? However, fixing the content will bring us something that both the publisher (Rediff in this case) and we (readers) will be happy about.
Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by indraneel dasgupta on Oct 04, 2014 12:23 PM
THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO DISCUSS GRAMMER ISSUES. WE ARE DISCUSSING CRICKET HERE AND NOT ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE / GRAMMER. PLEASE GO TO SOME GRAMMER SITES FOR THIS AND DO NOT IRRITATE OTHERS.
Re: Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by Kuntal Dey on Oct 04, 2014 01:35 PM
Of course, you are right! So, let me also give my view on cricket, without worrying about grammar or capitalization. Here's what I think about cricket.
CSK KKR IPL met tomorrow 2014 beat on alas KKR from CSK 2012 past chamPIOn inside IPL.
Great that I could finally discuss cricket. I shall certainly irritate none and go to "grammer" site for "this".
Re: Re: Re: Re: Grammar issues irritate me a lot
by wcpak on Oct 04, 2014 03:34 PM
stop this nonsense!!!people here can understand even the worst English because it's a cricket forum.
