Intro This article was started as a reply to a Facebook post, one asking for better grammar. It quickly escalated, and comments were turned off soon after. Still, it gave me material and thoughts for this post, though it wasn’t shared there. Not that simple For those annoyed with the OP, remember life is never …
Playbuzz English grammar test Have to laugh at a grammar test that gives the following: You aced it!! You are a master of the English Language. Your English skills are phenomenal. You passed a test that only 2 in 50 Native English speakers do. You must be passionate about languages and the written word. You …
My grammar and general literacy skills aren’t as great as that of some of my friends, nor am I always as thorough in the proof-reading, but they do tend towards warm fuzzy feelings when I actually find a new or unfamiliar word in a book and have to look up. That’s after mentally ringing the …
Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Aiming for grammatical balance. Read More »
The Chaos by Gerald Nolst Trenité, 1920. (Trenite also used the nom de plume Charivarius). The original had 146 lines and appeared in the appendix of his book ‘Drop Your Foreign Accent: engelsche uitspraakoefeningen’. What is said to be the most complete copy, as published by The English Spelling Society, has 274 lines. There are …
The Chaos Of English Pronunciation by Gerard Nolst Trenite Read More »
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION An analysis of Jasper Carrott’s stage routine over time, as compared to his written material, using his ‘Mother-in-law’ sketch. As well as being shown on TV, recorded live at Palladium (with London Weekend TV, if I recall), and since, it features on his album ‘Beat the Carrott’, and in one of his …
Jasper Carrott – Driven to Distraction by his Mother-in-Law Read More »
INTRODUCTION The purpose of this project is to study and compare written and live sketches by comedian Jasper Carrott to find the relationship between the two and how, grammatically, the delivery develops over time. Specifically to find what effect, if any, constant repetition of an act has on the structure of its sentences. There is …
Jasper Carrott – Driven to Distraction: Introduction Read More »
Contextual information Gesticulation is the grammatical equivalent of contextual narrative and so finds a place in this project. I am covering this first as physical actions play an important part in any comedians’ routine, but are not readily apparent on the taped version*. Generally speaking, it can be found in three ways. Firstly, by actually …
Jasper Carrott – Driven to Distraction: Contextual Information Read More »
Using colloquial accents General discourse, communicating directly with the audience, is what makes or breaks a comedian. If you read a humorous sketch – such as ‘Driver-in-Law’ – it is not the words themselves that make you laugh, but the images that they conjure up. In the book form this is somewhat restricted. You can …