My Take on the world events
I have views too and so do you.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Ain't Mine English correct?

British Council to teach English to Bengali techies


In a clear admission that students in West Bengal need better communication skills in English than what they can boast of now, the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Council at the Council’s library in Kolkata this morning.

The admission of the lacunae that some of us have with the language of the "sahibs" is heartening as well as frightening in some sense.

So, what do you all think?

BTW - A small quiz for all of you linguists
Which of the following is correct?

1. Nobody likes a dog that bites
2. Nobody likes a dog which bites


Post your answers in the comment.... As for me, English is not my cup of tea :-)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both seem to be OK...aren't they?

Anonymous said...

Sentence One is correct

Anonymous said...

1 is correct.

Anonymous said...

MS word says both are correct --- is this a joke or a haox etc? where is the answer?

FletcherDodge said...

It depends on the meaning you're trying to convey. The relative pronoun that is restrictive (defining), and the relative pronoun which is nonrestrictive (describing).

So, saying that "Nobody likes a dog which bites" is similar to saying people don't like dogs because dogs bite -- "which bite" describing dogs.

However, saying "Nobody likes a dog that bites" restricts the observation to a particular dog, one that bites.

Amit said...

Hmmm -- interesting observations. I will throw in my two cents with my version of the answer tomorrow. Let others catch up. Thanks for responding to all of you anyways.

Anonymous said...

I think the first one is right. Also, there should be a full stop at the end of the sentence.

Cee Kay said...

How about "Nobody likes a dog who bites?" Hmmmm....

If we strictly have to pick up from the given choices, I'd pick number one.

Anonymous said...

I dont know bout English but ebonics say..
aint nobody like dogg dat bites