Good English Cool!

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Good English Cool!

In a recent newspaper interview on the Speak Good English Movement, Professor Koh Tai Ann, Chairman of the movement, said:

"We would need workers who can communicate with not only the non-Singaporeans among us but all the visitors we are attracting to Singapore — tourists, those who come for conventions, meetings and so on. It would so ironic if we find many Singaporeans' English not suitable and we have to bring in foreign workers to work in these industries who can speak better English than we do."


Dunno whether correct or not but a Sammyboy forum chap made some corrections to the quote, in the spirit of good Englishing:

We would need workers who can communicate not only with not only (poor sequence) the (article unnecessary) non-Singaporeans among us but all (all is hyperbole) also the visitors we are attracting attract (present tense is used since article suggest future rather than current events) to Singapore — tourists, those who come for conventions conventioneers (why use 5 words when one suffices?) people attending meetings and so on. It would so be (choice of word) ironic if we find many Singaporeans' our (my stylistic choice) non-standard (better choice of word) English not suitable and we have compels us to bring in foreign workers who can (unnecessary) speak better English than we do can (polish up phrase sequencing; "can" a better choice than "do" as it denotes ability) to work in these industries.

------------------------------------------------------------
Bold Red: inserted word/phrase.
Italicised Blue: explanation of the correction.
strikeout: deleted portion.

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