Basic Punctuation & Grammar

Jacks dead sister -

Is Jack dead or is it his sister? Basic punctuation can save lives!

With modern generations relying more upon technology to their job for them, people are becoming less willing to either learn or use correct punctuation.

Using incorrect punctuation could be the difference between smart and stupid. Do you want someone to take you seriously or laugh you off the face of the earth? Wether it be commas, apostrophes or capitalising words, it is important that they are used correctly if you want to say the right thing.

It's easier to use examples for this:

Jacks - many people called Jack
Jack's - it belongs to Jack

Eats, shoots and leaves - he ate, shot someone and then left
Eats shoots and leaves - what a panda does

Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse - Uncle Jack has trouble getting off his horse due to his old age
Helping your uncle jack off a horse - not capitalising a word could lead to ridicule and possibly a police investigation

Let's eat, grandma - I'm hungry grandma, we should go and eat something
Let's eat grandma - I'm hungry and fancy eating my mother's mother

If you plan on using words as part of your daily existence, make sure you use the correct punctuation and grammar. So much as a comma can determine the understanding of what you're trying to say.

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Reality TV Shows Are Not Reality

In this grumble we look at two types of reality television, controlled and fly on the wall. Different, but altogether the same thing used to draw in viewers and boost the ratings.

First up, we have the controlled reality shows. This new format of television started around the mid-1990s with The Real World from the USA. The format was basic, eight people in their early 20s from all different walks of life sharing a life experience. The cast members were randomly chosen by the series producers and needed to get jobs and maintain a 'normal' relationship with their housemates.

Running for 20 years, and still being filmed today, this has sparked ideas with other production companies who wanted to push the boubdaries as far as possible for our entertainment. The most popular of these was Big Brother. New millennium, new show, the UK version saw Channel 4 popularity sky-rocket ad millions of people every night sat in their house and tuned in to watch othet people in another house. This was a highly controlled environment where the strangers became housemates for several weeks, restricted within the walls and garden where they were watched 24/7 and had to complete tasks to have luxuries. Many people thought that they pushes the boundaries too far causing controversy due to racism, homophobia and sexual encounters shown on the highlights show daily. This sparked outrage with the public, yet still managed to pull in the ratings.

There have been many other controlled reality shows over the years,  some of the most popular being Celebrity Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity,  Get Me Out Of Here and Survivor. In most cases, the celebrity shows have caused more of a stir due certain "stars" trying to revive a dead career, only to lose any respect they had with a poor choice of words or actions.

Let's move on now to fly on the wall reality shows. They started out with shows such as Super Nanny and Come Dine With Me. Although controlled to an extent, these were people in their natural environments being followed by camera crews.

With the popularity of reality fly on the wall, the UK has been subjected to the likes of This Is Chelsea and The Only Way I Essex. Allegedly these are just normal people with normal lives being followed by a crew. My question with these is, if it is so normal, how can the camera crew know exactly how to film without getting the shot blocked and why are all the cast on chat shows when some of them argue to the point of destruction?

Ok, I know this has just been a lesson so far, so I will get on with the moan. How can any of these shows call themselves reality when in some cases they could not be further from it. Everyone being filmed is putting on a false frant of some sort and the entertainmant factor is just edited to get you watching.  Think about it, if you were filmed for just one day, would there be anything worth watching or would someone have to intervene to make it worth while?

It sometimes ruffles my feathers when you see the US versions of Super Nanny and Wife Swap that state some of the filming has been staged. If this is the case, it's not reality, it is people acting as themselves.  It's the same for all the shows to some degree, even subconsciously, people will change who they are for the entertainment factor.

With the way this is going,  it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have a real life Truman Show or Running Man in the next decade.

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If You Don't Know It, Don't Use It

A bit of an expansion on Basic Punctuation & Grammar, we start to focus on the misuse of words. Sometimes, when I read something, maybe on Facebook or Twitter, I struggle to take it seriously if they use the incorrect their or there.

Basic English is the foundation of a good future. The way that some people use words like they are correct,  I'm surprised they can survive daily activity. I understand that mistakes can happen and people can slip, but when you are purposely being ignorant towards basic high school English, I have no tolerance for you.

This doesn't just go for the written word, it can be the same for spoken English as well. People have local dialect and accents, I understand, but trying to be "gangsta" or "street" makes you sound thick.

Examples:

Your - it belongs to you
You're - the contraction of you are

Could of - what does this mean? You want to say "could've" or "could have"

Irregardless - not a real word

There - not here
Their - belongs to someone else
They're - the contraction of they are

Definitely does not contain an "A"

Loose - not tight
Lose - something goes missing

Supposedly - is not pronounced "supposably"

I seen it - no you haven't!  I would say you have seen it or you would say "I saw it."

I aren't - what does this mean? I are not what?

This list could go on for some time with almost endless nitpicking. As I said before, the small errors don't bother me as much as the broken English that you should know. You want to travel the world and experience new cultures? Well, don't complain when they don't understand your so-called English.

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Financial Crisis Or Greed From Above

For far too long the big word in the news has been recession.  Greece, Iceland,  Spain and Great Britain to name but a few have all been subject to a financially hard time with some going so far as to closing banks due to the lack of funds. Each time it is mentioned, there is always a bailout from someone giving the public impression that it's all ok. Well it's not ok because each time their is bailout it just means that their is more money owed to another party. If it keeps going around like this it will end up that everyone is in debt with each other.

Country deficits have come about for the simple reason that governments are seperating the classes to such a degree that there is no middle ground. They have gotten themselves into a position now where they can't reduce tax on the people they've taken it from and the ones who are high up on the wealth ladder have too strong a hold on the government they can't afford to change. Governments give the impression that they want to help people with buying a first home or getting a loan, but all it does is move the financial strain rather than making a long term solution.

There are many big companies (especially banks) that will happily say they are in a financial crisis and make staff redundant or give them less hours,  however they will just as easily pay their bosses millions in bonuses because they helped them to save money last year. This doesn't make sense. If you ask me, there is one solution,  pay the bosses less and pay the workers more. At least this way you are keeping more people in employment who can afford to feed their kids and less money is going to people who don't need it.

 

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The Pepper Mill - Stoke

I don't usually moan about food or the establishment in which it is served but I thought I should voice my opinion about The Pepper Mill (Longton, Stoke-on-Trent).

The Pepper Mill is a new addition to the Marston's chain that has been open a couple of months and we have heard very mixed reviews from friends and family, so my wife (Camilla) and I decided to go for a Sunday carvery with our 15 month old son (Jacob).

We arrived to see a busy car park which filled me with promise thinking that it must be good for this many people to be there. We parked the car and walked in where we we greeted by a woman looking flustered who asked us if we wanted a table. Camilla informed her that we needed a table for two with a high chair and the woman told us she will take our name and we would have to wait at the bar but were not given any idea how long the wait would be. I wasn't really comfortable standing at the bar with a baby but I did notice that tables were being cleared quickly and thought it wouldn't be long until we were seated.

We stood for a few minutes while we got a drink and decided to play on the quiz machine by the bar whilst we waited to be called. After a few games and about 20 minutes of waiting, we still had no table so stood to one side looking bored. At this point the lady came to us and said she was at the other side of the bar calling us. Surely it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if someone isn't there you go to the other side to look.

We were shown to our table where a small girl was sitting and someone on another table said that someone was already there. This was clearly a sign that nobody knew that you needed to wait to be seated. We were then shown to another table that was not set up with no cutlery laid out (we had to get our own). The woman who had shown us to the table said she will go and get a high chair and walked off in the opposite direction to where they were. We waited a minute for her to return but never saw her again so had to ask someone else to get one for us.

We sat for a moment looking at the menu to see what to get for Jacob and decided on a children's carvery. Camilla went up first and got a carvery for herself and Jacob. When she returned we couldn't help but notice that the size difference between the plates was minimal, approximately 1/4 inch all around for half the price. I went up and got my meal and had a bit of every meat (pork, gammon, turkey and beef). I have never been to a carvery before where they have weighed each piece of meat before giving it to you. When looking at the carvery, it was very small and not a good lay out where you have to cross the path of people walking past to get to the gravy and sauces. The choice of accompaniments was not vast with a lack of broccoli, mashed potato and the apple and cranberry sauce had mixed to make two bowls of 'pink' sauce.

This so far bad experience of our visit was not going to get me down and I was determined to enjoy the food. This frame of mind was short lived when I found that the roast potatoes that just came out were cold and there was no flavour in any of the meat with the exception of a very salty gammon and a piece of pork that had more fat than meat on it.

We decided not to have a dessert as we had been disappointed enough for one day.

Upon returning home we wanted to see what the website shows to bring people in and I noticed an advertisement for a free bottle of house wine when you spend £15 or more on food, there is no mention of terms and conditions or that you needed to take a voucher. This offer was not known to us and was not honoured as promised. Camilla has sent an email to them asking why they have not delivered what is advertised and we are still awaiting a response.

We most likely would have complained about the experience there and then if someone had actually asked us how our meal was, but there was no interaction from any staff and when you have a baby who wants to go home, the last thing you want to do is stay longer.

Overall, a very disappointing Sunday lunch and not a place I would want to visit again anytime soon.

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