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Pedants' corner

An Announcement

(15 Posts)
crun Sun 15-Mar-15 14:21:46

Whenever I switch the news on and hear something like:

"Tomorrow the government will announce that......."

I always think that they must have already. smile

janerowena Sun 15-Mar-15 14:30:09

Their thunder has been stolen, hasn't it. The announcement of the announcement makes the first announcer the announcer, the govt. becomes merely the reminder of the original announcement.

Wheniwasyourage Sun 15-Mar-15 17:46:18

It just gives the broadcasters the excuse to discuss it all twice, once as a forthcoming announcement, and once as what was announced. probably saves them money [cynical emoticon]

AshTree Sat 28-Mar-15 20:54:54

But at least that sentence construction is better than "The government will tomorrow announce that..." For some reason this word order drives me nuts angry

janerowena Sat 28-Mar-15 23:56:52

blush

Oops. I always do that.

durhamjen Sun 29-Mar-15 00:17:00

I remember reading that the police were looking into leaks about the budget. I presume it never went any further because it was Osborne doing the leaking himself.

absent Sun 29-Mar-15 00:53:41

The Government is supposed to announce things to MPs first but Number Ten spin doesn't care.

vampirequeen Sun 29-Mar-15 08:11:47

I think the leakers should be hunted down and sacked. Their final leak should be "Tomorrow Number 10 will announce that I've been sacked and will be subject to investigation and possible prosecution" grin

AshTree Sun 29-Mar-15 10:00:12

vq grin

AshTree Sun 29-Mar-15 10:25:48

janer Do you? But surely only in written documents, not everyday speech? "I will clean that room tomorrow" or Tomorrow I will clean that room" both sound fine. But "I will tomorrow clean that room" sounds completely unnatural! confused

janerowena Sun 29-Mar-15 17:34:04

I'm more likely to say I'll do it tomorrow. However I do on occasion phrase it that way. With emphasis.

'I will, TOMORROW, tidy the sewing room'. (No, I won't. I shall shut the room and pretend it isn't there.)

AshTree Sun 29-Mar-15 21:00:03

Yes, I can see that. It does work for emphasis. That's not the way the newsreaders say it though wink. They just say it flatly, and it sounds wrong !

whitewave Sun 29-Mar-15 21:02:07

oh jane do you have a sewing room? What do you sew?

AshTree Sun 29-Mar-15 21:10:33

Every night I promise myself I will tidy the sewing room tomorrow. Actually, the dining room. Well, my husband calls it the dining room. It looks more like a junk room. Sewing machine, piles of fabric, felt, craft bits and bobs, scissors, cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, markers, glue, glue gun, half finished projects, patterns. Not forgetting the detritus of my other hobby, photography. So on the bookshelf there are an assortment of lenses, filters, a flashgun - and on the floor nearby are the camera bag, tripod, monopod. And in another corner is my iMac (for photo editing) and printer.

It never gets tidied. I don't know where to start blush

(The room also houses my massage chair, so when the mess overwhelms me I just lie back and close my eyes....)

janerowena Tue 31-Mar-15 20:54:32

whitewave it's meant to be a bedroom, but the roof comes down on one side and makes it impossible to use, long and thin. So I have my wardrobes all along one side and the sewing desk and chests of drawers holding fabrics in there.

Mostly curtains, cushion covers and mending at the moment, but I used to make all my own clothes. DBH sings a lot as a soloist, so I make him waistcoats and ties and cummerbunds. Currently I am making old short tops into longer ones, combining two or three even to make one since there seems to be a fashion for several co-ordinating fabrics in one item at the moment. The other project is making old wool/cashmere jumpers into throws. I don't throw them away when they wear out, I save them up and now I have enough to make three throws.