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I've just spent five minutes thinking, "what's wrong with this writing style?" I still don't know. As a later poster pointed out, perhaps it is a peculiarly Br
by phillc73 11y ago
I've just spent five minutes thinking, "what's wrong with this writing style?" I still don't know. As a later poster pointed out, perhaps it is a peculiarly British style, which just doesn't register as abnormal to me.
There are also certain things which grate rather badly with me when reading US "style" too.
For example, "Recall our previous conversation...." Use of recall in this way feels so impolite and demanding. Normal use for me would be, "You may recall our previous conversation...."
Anyway, this is not a bashing session, I just genuinely didn't find anything odd about El Reg's writing style.
- TillE 11y agoIt's a very tabloid-y tone. Other commenters have used the word "informal", but that's not quite right. There's a certain over-the-topness that clearly distinguishes the tabloid press (British, American, German, etc) from a casual blog covering the same subject, for example.
- phillc73 11y agoAnd to think I am just a Guardian reader.....
- unethical_ban 11y agoWhen I hear "You may recall...", I don't think of it as asking for permission. I think of it as saying "You might be able to, or maybe not". Just saying to recall the previous conversation is an indicator that previous context is required.
- timthorn 11y agoIndeed - the loss of precision over may, can, might & could is a pet peeve of mine. Often language evolves, but with these words meaning is being lost - and sometimes inverted. I recently disagreed with someone who said that "you may not do something" (because you were allowed to), but it turned out that she meant might. She was a teacher, too. :(