<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div>A few years ago, the head of the entire University of Georgia system, in response to criticism claiming that the system put more emphasis on sports than learning, sent a memo out reading: "Though we at the University of Georgia love our athletic program, we will never allow it to stand in the way of acedemic excellence." <br />(Or something to that affect!)*<br /><br />Thumpe<br /><br />*Yes, I know that should have read "effect". ( Just joshing you!)</div></td></tr></table> <div id="_origMsg_">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span>
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Terry Beckingham <t46xd8jb@xplornet.com>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">To:</span>
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<pianotech@ptg.org>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">Subject:</span>
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Re: [pianotech] OT: Grammar <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span>
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Wed, Dec 5, 2012 10:53:07 PM <br>
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David,<br><br>
I think you missed one glaring error. <br><br>
"The applicant will now be able to complete and send their
application into us "<br><br>
Should that not have read "The applicant will now be able to
complete and send <u>his or her</u> applications to us" ?<br><br>
Terry Beckingham.<br><br>
<br><br>
At 10:24 PM 12/5/2012 +0000, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" class="cite" cite>This evening I have written and
submitted a reference for a former student of mine who is applying to
university. In the UK, such applications are processed by a body called
UCAS; the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.<br><br>
I duly submitted the reference online, and a few moments later, received
an email confirmation.<br><br>
Here is the text of the beginning of the email:<br><br>
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Dear David Boyce<br><br>
Your reference for Mr M*** H***** has now been received by us. The
applicant will now be able to complete and send their application into
us, we will contact them by email if they have provided a verified email
address.<br><br>
Now, folks, I am not a pedant in matters linguistic. I appreciate that
languages constantly change and evolve. But there is fascinating change
and evolution, and there is slovenliness. The secodn sentence of
the above contains two annoying illiteracies; "into" should of
course be "in to" (and the "in" is redundant in any
case) and a Comma Splice has been used instead of a semicolon after
"us".<br><br>
The body who sent that email to me are responsible for almost all of the
admissions to Higher Education institutions in the UK. If they are
so illiterate in so short a communication, what are we to expect in
general?<br><br>
Best regards,<br><br>
David.<br>
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