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Posted on 09 Apr 2012
Is Singapore's standard of English going down the drain?
An expression used in a newspaper advertisement, which reads 'By Invite Only', caught the attention of STOMPer .Lim, who is worried that the current English standards in Singapore may not be as good as it used to be.
The STOMPer wrote:
"About a week ago, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) advertised on the front page of a newspaper with the words 'By Invite Only' -- shouldn't it read as 'By Invitation Only' instead?
"I seem to be coming across too many variants of words that I have not used since I was a student.
"Here are some examples: how much is your spend (instead of "expenditure"); advertorial/advertisement; connectivity/connection; estimation/estimate; expiration/expiry; experimentation/experiment; incentivize/give incentives; origination/origin.
"The list of terms goes on.
"In addition, I frequently hear over the radio that the DJ wants to "speak with" someone, rather than "speak to" someone.
"Is the English language going down the drain? I may belong to the old school (I'm in my forties) but I don't buy the idea that those who use the language incorrectly can summon the notion of English being a 'living language' as an excuse for the errors, if they indeed are errors in the first place."
Is Singapore's standard of English going down the drain?
An expression used in a newspaper advertisement, which reads 'By Invite Only', caught the attention of STOMPer .Lim, who is worried that the current English standards in Singapore may not be as good as it used to be.
The STOMPer wrote:
"About a week ago, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) advertised on the front page of a newspaper with the words 'By Invite Only' -- shouldn't it read as 'By Invitation Only' instead?
"I seem to be coming across too many variants of words that I have not used since I was a student.
"Here are some examples: how much is your spend (instead of "expenditure"); advertorial/advertisement; connectivity/connection; estimation/estimate; expiration/expiry; experimentation/experiment; incentivize/give incentives; origination/origin.
"The list of terms goes on.
"In addition, I frequently hear over the radio that the DJ wants to "speak with" someone, rather than "speak to" someone.
"Is the English language going down the drain? I may belong to the old school (I'm in my forties) but I don't buy the idea that those who use the language incorrectly can summon the notion of English being a 'living language' as an excuse for the errors, if they indeed are errors in the first place."
