الإنجليزية الركيكة

Today Doug and Liliane are talking about bad English.

A leading British supermarket has replaced signs at some of its checkouts.

The signs used to say '10 items or less.' However, the language watchdog, known as The Plain English Campaign, advised the supermarket to change the signs as they were not written in good English.

They changed the words to: 'Up to 10 items.' They could have changed them to '10 items or fewer.' The grammar rule is that you should use less for quantities that you can't count and fewer for quantities you can count.

We hear some more examples of bad English. One of our regular BBC Xtra presenters, Cath, gives an example of using apostrophes badly which she finds irritating.

Another colleague doesn't like the way some people turn nouns into verbs.

And Kaz doesn't like the way people use 'me and I' in the wrong way.

We'd like to hear from you about this subject. Do you think we should be more relaxed about our English? Or should we always try to use good grammar when we speak and write English?

ما رأيك حول هذا الموضوع؟ هل تؤيد التساهل في قواعد اللغة الإنجليزية، أم يجب أن يحرص الجميع على الالتزام بالقواعد اللغوية في الحديث وفي الكتابة؟ اكتبوا لنا بالإنجليزية.

أنقر هنا للاستماع للكلمات

checkouts
منافذ الدفع في المتاجر

language watchdog
جمعية معنية بالحفاظ على اللغة

The Plain English Campaign
اسم الجمعية: حملة اللغة الإنجليزية السليمة

less
أقل من حيث الكمية

fewer
أقل عدداً

apostrophes
من علامات التنقيط في اللغة الإنجليزية

irritating
مزعج

Rami, Egypt
I think we must be strict when talking or writing English because it's an indicator for good learning in Arab countries.

Marina, Sudan
Well in my opinion, yes we can be more relaxed about our English if we are talking at home or with friends but not when we are talking formally. For example, to our boss at work or when we are writing official letters otherwise we don't have to be very strict.

Haider Kareem, Iraq
I think grammar is very important in writing but in talking it is not very important.

Sameh, Palestine, Gaza
I think we should always try to use good grammar when we speak and write English. Any place and every time, our good langauge uses past, present and the future.

Raif Ahmad, Lymghurst, NJ, USA
I strongly support this campaign, although English is not my mother language, but I really enjoy reading and hearing plain English.

شروط وبنود الاستخدام