English Grammar Follies

English Grammar - Ah! I studied it during my school days. It was not only about how to write framed sentences in English, but also about the proper usage of words, sentences, clauses etc. I crammed many of them at that time. Over a period of time though, those rules became irrelevant, as much of sentence-correctitude sense came from day-to-day usage of those words.

So, when I started studying grammar again now, I was simply startled by the fact every conceivably correct sentence written by us has a high chance of containing at least one grammatical mistake. While some of them are based on almost obsolete rules, some are the gifts of the casual way our conversation and writing have taken shape into over a period of time. Sadly the latter mistakes are more chronic and undetectable, unless told by someone.

I would just illustrate a few examples to drive home my point.

1> Usage of words signifying recurring action

Most commonplace mistake is of the usage of words, like repeat, recall, return etc. with adverb/conjuction- again, before etc. to stress upon the action. Ah.. there is no need to stress as they themselves mean a recurring action.

Incorrect:- Please repeat again

Correct :- Please repeat

2> Usage of 'anyways'

How many times have we seen people using anyways? Seems correct. Unfortunately it is not, and I too came to know this a few days back only. The correct form is anyway, and the hindsight does suggest that if it is 'any', it should be 'way', not 'ways'.

Incorrect:- Anyways you do this

Correct :- Anyway you do this

3> Usage of yours

'Yours' is a possessive case of 'you', and it never comes with an aprostrophe like your's. But have a purusal of the letters or applications written by a person, and you will find this mistake more often that not in the conclusive part of signature.

Incorrect:- Your's sincerely,

Correct:- Yours sincerely,

4> Usage of enjoy

Now this one is really tough, as this rule is known and most importantly, adhered to only by the puritans of the language. "We enjoyed yesterday" seems a very correct sentence, but the directive about usage of enjoy makes it incorrect. Enjoy should always have an object or a reflexive pronoun succeeding it.

Incorrect:- We enjoyed yesterday

Correct:- We enjoyed the party yesterday/ We enjoyed ourselves yesterday

These are only some of the illustrations of varying degree where the grammar rules are broken. There won't be any problem in the conveying of message with the incorrect usage, but the real joy of learning comes in writing correct English. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no other way to learn these rules than to go through them individually. And that is what I too intend to do for the above piece of writing, as I know this will be littered with many grammatical mistakes, some even silly.

Bikini World !!!

How is bikini pronounced? Bi..kee..nee with stress on the second and third syllables, making the word an elongated one on voice. Why am I asking this? Surprisingly, it has got something to do with cricket. During India-Aus test cricket commentary on Star Cricket channel, Ian Chappell brought out this word, which drew my attention not only for its obvious young-mind appeal, but also for the incongruity of its usage. May be it wasn't out of place, as they need to tell a few things sometimes to spice up the dull cricket.

A few days later, I read an article on Cricinfo where a celebrated journalist mentioned about the attractiveness of the bikini-clad damsels which was an additional, if not prime, factor towards watching the matches in Australia on Channel 9 during mid-eighties. How sweet....? And here I am in the same league, not with above cricket-related perversions, but with an equally sensual fascination towards those wonderful set of clothes, if ever that was not a misnomer.

By fortuity, I had got a chance to come to Cyprus. Before departure from India, my vivid mind had drawn so-many pictures of those variegated fabric scantily hiding the curvy bosom and derriere. I had searched enough to know the abundance of it in the land. Upon arrival, one of the most lasting images will remain of the exclamation erupted in unison by my fellow mates on seeing a bevy of girls in skimpy bikinis, from the bus. They foresaw a titillating experience on this wonderful island.

Heads swerved to the sea-side of the road while travelling on bus to the office. The first destination to visit was Aiya Napa as the folklore of revelling bootylicious misses kept buzzing in our heads beforehand. Beaches were attacked in pursuit of the unknown eye-soothing booty of beauty. It all passed off as a juvenile indiscretion of a soaking-yet-jejune mind.

But as happens with all the things in the cosmos, surfeit invariably brought an unwanted tedium to it. What was enticing became a normal view, and so normal that last year, I didn't visit the beaches more than once or twice to behold the bombinating life out there. Distance was surely a factor, but indifference added more to it.

Life does tend to come a full circle though. Now with ennui setting in my other day-to-day and office lives, the hitherto boring world of beaches beckons me more strongly now. Cometh summer, I have decided to be at my voyeuristic best to relive those moments. There aren't any livening moments than those. Only thing I wish this time is for them to never wither away.