[Guden Oden]

You are a MASTER of the English language!


Huzzah. While your English is not exactly
perfect, you are still more grammatically
correct than just about every American. Others
admire the way you speak and could learn a lot
from listening to you. Still, there is always
room for improvement...


<font size="-1">How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)</font>
<font size="-3">brought to you by Quizilla</font>

Better than I expected I must say.

[nutball]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.



Your English is very good Guden, TBH it's very hard to tell it's not your first language (that's true of a lot of the non-native speakers here too BTW).

I have to say that some of the questions in that test are pretty anal and verging on the petty. English is a living language, the "rules" evolve through time with usage. It's defined by implementation if you like.

If we all lived by these anal rules, we wouldn't be blessed with the rich variety of regional dialects in the UK that make chaps from the North sound oh-so comical. Reet, chook?

[MPI]

<b>GRAMMAR GOD</b>!

Wheee... where do I apply for a diploma?

[london-boy]

This is an american test!!! What do they know!?

You are a MASTER of the English language!

Huzzah. While your English is not exactly perfect, you are still more grammatically correct than just about every American. Others admire the way you speak and could learn a lot from listening to you. Still, there is always room for improvement...

[Guden Oden]

Originally Posted by nutball

Your English is very good Guden, TBH it's very hard to tell it's not your first language (that's true of a lot of the non-native speakers here too BTW).

Thank you, thank you!

I believe I can mostly credit my fairly OK english on the vast amounts of UK computer gaming magazines such as Zzap! 64, C+VG, Commodore User etc that I consumed in the mid-80s to early 90s. My golly, those were the days!

...Oh, and also the fact we don't dub foreign TV and movies in this country either, apart from kid stuff that is. So Hollywood has to bear considerable blame also hehehe. :P

I have to say that some of the questions in that test are pretty anal and verging on the petty. English is a living language, the "rules" evolve through time with usage. It's defined by implementation if you like.

Yeah, considering the language has become so global, used by so many different sub-groups etc... But even with grunge, skater-wear, goth etc, there's still room for suits and ties in the fashion world, and so will there be room for "proper" english amongst inner-city slum dialects, leet-speek and other weird and wonderful diverging flavors.

English is cool, I think that no matter what word you look up on urbandictionary.com, there's a synonym for "penis" there listed for it.

Reet, chook?

What you say?

Someone set you up the bomb?

[Farid]

Originally Posted by nutball

English is a living language, the "rules" evolve through time with usage. It's defined by implementation if you like.

That and the fact that English as a language is not regulated by any organism.

In other words anyone can create any word, grammar rule, figure of speech he wants.
For instance I, for one, have create Engrish Vista™ it's a, more or less, comphrensive implementation of the english language in a francophone environment.

[Phil]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.



:P

I must say I thought some of them were quite difficult...

I did find this line rather amusing though:

you are still more grammatically correct than just about every American.

[Crisidelm]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.


<font size="-1">How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)</font>
<font size="-3">brought to you by Quizilla</font>

[WhiningKhan]

Errr... Is this test really right? It claims that correct form is

"I had lain myself down for a nap"'

I would have put my ass on stake that it should have been

"I had laid myself down for a nap"


I've kinda always thought the meaning of the verb lie (lay,lain) in "lie down" is about being down right now, while the verb lay (laid,laid) in "lay down" would mean an action to get or put something down. 'Lie' does not seem sensible here.


To me, English is pretty much the BASIC of human languages. Laymen think it's easy and productive, while in reality its usage tends to result in horrible mess and the screwed-up constructs of its many dialects not only cause confusion but also act as a burden when learning other languages.

[Crisidelm]

Originally Posted by WhiningKhan

Errr... Is this test really right? It claims that correct form is

"I had lain myself down for a nap"'

I would have put my ass on stake that it should have been

"I had laid myself down for a nap"


I've kinda always thought the meaning of the verb lie (lay,lain) in "lie down" is about being down right now, while the verb lay (laid,laid) in "lay down" would mean an action to get or put something down. 'Lie' does not seem sensible here.

Your considerations about "to lie down" and "to lay down" are correct, but your conclusions are not. It's what is "missing" there that makes all the difference.

[linthat22]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.




Surprised even myself. Which is funny being that in high school I didn't do to well in english, but in college I was top rung (maybe it was the money )

[Farid]

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.

This test is now officially BS.

[WhiningKhan]

Originally Posted by Crisidelm

Your considerations about "to lie down" and "to lay down" are correct, but your conclusions are not. It's what is "missing" there that makes all the difference.

If you mean 'myself' by the missing part that makes the difference, I viewed that as a confirmation that 'lay' should be the correct verb, since I've been led to believe that 'lie' can only be used intransitively, and 'myself' looks pretty much like an object to me in that sentence. I guess this is only intuitive to natives.

I consider my English<->BASIC -comparison validated now...

[Geo]

Alice in Wonderland.

No, wait, that is the English Exam that is the Brown section of Classic Trivial Pursuit. . .

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

I only had 12/20 questions right, I think, and that quiz still clasified me and a MASTER of the english language. I gues that says it all, huh... Still: Not too dishonorable for a non native speaker, I guess.

Edit: Somebody expalin question 8 to me: "Everybody -> her"?

[Kaizer]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Edit: Somebody expalin question 8 to me: "Everybody -> her"?

"Grade" is a singular form ergo "her", which is the third person singular, Any variation of the third person plural (they) would require a plural form (grades).

I think.

Take it from someone who just became aware of their own divinity..





_
K

[Zaphod]

Oh damn: Tricked out by the multiple choice question. I swear I would have gotten that if not for the alternatives. Now someone explain why 'their' or 'their own' can not be used. Tried looking it up, but I still can't see it. (A literature search yilded several such constructions, including a passage where this exact problem was discussed by the protagonists.) Perhaps it’s a non-native thing again. Do English have many allowed, but not preferred, constructions? I can't remember.

Edit: To answer myself: The 'grade' apperantly has nothing to do with it.

Everyone, everybody, someone, and no-one are singular pronouns and must therefore be followed by the singular possessive pronoun, namely his or her

[Crisidelm]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

Edit: Somebody expalin question 8 to me: "Everybody -> her"?

It is the only possible correct solution there.

[StefanS]

Grammar God!

Yeah.

[CosmoKramer]

<img src="http://images.quizilla.com/B/BaalObsidian/1080162080_cturesgod3.jpg" border="0" alt="Grammar God!"><br>You are a <b>GRAMMAR GOD</b>!
<br><br>Congratulations! If your mission in life<br>is not already to preserve the English tongue,<br>it should be. You can smell a grammatical<br>inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is<br>revered by the underlings, though some may<br>blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just<br>jealous. Go out there and change the world.
<br><br><a href="http://quizilla.com/users/BaalObsidian/quizzes/How%20grammatically%20correct%20are%20you%3F%20(Re vised%20with%20answer%20key)/"> <font size="-1">How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)</font></a><BR> <font size="-3">brought to you by <a href="http://quizilla.com">Quizilla</a></font>

Bah, how the hell do you get it to look like it should?

[rabidrabbit]

You are a complete and utter BASTARDIZATION of the English tongue!

Unless English is your third language,
here is absolutely no excuse for your ignorance.
You shame us with your speech.
Go back and finish your schooling,
Bastard.


You're urine.
Stinky and poisonous. You flow allover the place.
You don't like being held up for too long, and you frequently nag
at inconvienent moments.
Sometimes you find it funny to wake people up in the middle of the night.
You're hard to control, and you reek.

[_xxx_]

"Your company's proxy sucks big time because it won't let you do this test and show how poor your engrish is"

Bah.

[L233]

I'm a Grammar God, even though I know my English grammar stinks. Multiple-choice tests are worthless.

[sytaylor]

Originally Posted by Guden Oden

Thank you, thank you!

I believe I can mostly credit my fairly OK english on the vast amounts of UK computer gaming magazines such as Zzap! 64, C+VG, Commodore User etc that I consumed in the mid-80s to early 90s. My golly, those were the days!

I must sya british gaming mags have in the past had quite a good standard of language. If you stay away from the obvious moron mags (with more pictures than words, and more "cheats" than reviews) then the journalism tends to be quite good. That said with the money offered for the job they do, its no big suprise I guess, that these people have to be dedicated.

I've often found reading work by writers who litter their prose with english tricks for humour and/or effect can add colour to one's own writing.

nutball, as a northerner, my speech may sound a little different, I even use bad grammar in daily conversation. Yet I still know the rules, and as a baseline they're worth having and knowing.

[Diplo]

U 1s a l337 m45t3R ov ingl15h!!!!11111


Wicked!