Matilah Manglish #1

I've decided to start a new series of posts where I basically correct people's grammar, spelling and punctuation. I get really pissed when I see people tweet or post statuses that have crappy grammar. Yes, I am the feared Grammar Nazi. 


Hopefully, using this series of posts I can not only release my pent-up stress but also help whomever reads my blog learn a few things. 


The sentences that I will use will come from the Internet such as tweets, Facebook status updates and maybe even from other blogs. My aim is to right some wrongs not to embarrass anyone so all the sources will not be disclosed.


Today's lesson : 


"Broken English sometimes can be a conversation killer." 


The wording of this sentence is what needs fixing. I think it would sound and look better if it had instead been written as :


" Broken English can sometimes be a conversation killer. "


As you can see, I've merely switched the positioning of the word 'sometimes' and 'can'. In the first form, the sentence sounds stunted because when you read it, you'll read it like this :


" Broken English / sometimes / can be / a / conversation killer. " 
( the '/' indicates where you would pause when reading )


When reading a sentence, the pauses should happen  preferably after every two, three or four words and the flow of the sentence at the beginning will set the tempo for the rest of the sentence till it finishes. By placing the word 'sometimes' before the word 'can', the flow of the sentence will sound like this :


" Broken English / can sometimes / be a conversation killer. "


People who are used to giving speeches or MC-ing an event usually talk in 2/3/4 words parts to make sure that the audience can clearly catch the words and comprehend what is being said.


Furthermore, the second form of the sentence places stress on the word 'sometimes' making it clearly evident that broken English is not always the cause of conversations dying out. 


Hopefully, after reading this post, you'll be able to see how arranging words in a certain order can give off different affects to the reader or listener.


Remember, think before you tweet and polish before you post.
Class dismissed.