I always use ‘Boro are winning and our play has been fantastic,’ thus ensuring I don’t mix singular and plural.
But how about the Aussies? Their cricket commentators never use the plural to describe the teams: ‘ Australia has scored 2 for 735 and is winning this game hands down.’ (I’m tempted to add, ‘Again.’ 😱😢☹️) Nothing wrong with their phraseology, but it really used to jar with me at first, as British sports commentators almost always use the plural for teams.
So with the window closed we have 26 players over 21 in the squad. So is Dieng going to be the one to have to go? Will we release him or hope a European club comes for him before their window closes? If we releaser him I assume we have to pay out his contract so it is not a money saver. Similarly Lenihan. Will he ever play again and his contract runs out in May. Hamilton is in the current 26 but lokks like nobody wants him including the Boro. He was on the bench for the Under 21's tonight as they came from 3-0 down at half time to draw 3-3 with West Ham, and he didn't get on. Hansen and Mcabe played the full 90 minutes.
@clive-hurren - You are right there (firstly because the Aussies always get things the wrong way around - 2 for 140 sounds like the bowler's figures rather than the batting team's score - and secondly because I think of Boro as the team). A singular team.
So I say Boro (the team) is the one I support and (IT) has been playing well recently. But when you say some commentators use the plural that is because many (probably most) work for organisations which have a "house style". They will have a style book or House Bible which sets out the paper/broadcasting station's preferred style. And if the piece doesn't follow the style guide it will no doubt be altered by the sub-editors.
At this point I'd usually throw in a joke about The Grauniad and its style, grammar and spelling but Martin will come back at me and say things have changed in the last half century..
Anyway, it is getting late. In the last couple of days in the January Transfer window it would seem that no news is good news. A back-up keeper (Joe Wildsmith) signed from WBA but none of Boro's key players sold and, in order to keep the peace and no doubt ensure financial fair play compliance, no big-money Striker signed. Hackney and Targett both remain at the club. We live to strive onwards and (hopefully) upwards.
Boro are the Championship's leading scorers since Kim Hellberg's appointment, Tommy Conway has found form again with three goals in his last three games and David Strelec returned to action at the weekend. So we have been doing well while our "main" striker Strelec has been away. And he is fully fit now (OK he needs a few matches to be really sharp).Well, that’s it. The window is closed, at last. Our best bit of business by far was keeping Hackney, followed by keeping Targett. I won’t lose any sleep over the departures of Burgzorg, Kanté and Nypan.
But I guess we’re all a bit disappointed and even a bit anxious that we didn’t bring in a striker?
In principle, if Whittaker and Conway keep scoring, and Castledine, Strelec, McGree and maybe Hackney, Silvera and Browne can all add a few more, then we should be ok. We’ll definitely create the chances. Can we put enough of them away to push us to promotion?
Secondly, our defence including Brynn has been excellent. Only Ipswich have conceded less than us in whole league (28 v. 29). That data is from the beginning of the season including three clean sheets at home recently (and scoring nine in three).
It would have been nice to sign a striker, but I am not TOO worried now. Mind, Hellberg's style has never based on a profilic number nine in the past. The goals have been coming from all over the pitch. Up the Boro!
@mw-in-darwin I assume it will be Dieng that will not be registered, as he is the one that appears they want moved on the most. Maybe the suits are hoping of a compromise where both parties take a hit on money, but that has not happened yet from Dieng.
In the end we did not get another forward (striker) and we make the 25 comfortably with both Hamilton and even Lenihan included.
Whilst like Powmill, I did not quite agree with Len’s take on not signing Armstrong, for me he is not worth 7 + add ons, especially the wages Wolves are going to pay.
However I certainly agree that Scott and Co. have not performed very well in their recent unearthing of foreign forwards. Hamilton it seems will be just written off unfortunately for the young man. Hansen possibly likewise, Sene and Strelec have it all to prove and Nypan was probably a season too early. Even Whittaker can blow hot and cold.
So hopefully TC can continue chasing down, and Strelec proves he actually was worth buying.
According to Capology, Armstrong had a contract until 2027, on 60K a week plus possible 15K bonuses. Wolves I assume will be paying around the same until 2028/2029?
Not a chance we could afford to pay that.
Many thanks Dormo for those very interesting and educational posts on the peculiarities of English grammar - which as someone mainly educated in the 1970s at a comprehensive where teaching grammar was very minimal as 'comprehension and expression' was preferred, I have no grounding in the rules and terminology and only know them by usage.
So I deduce from what you've written that you are a 'Arsenal is top of the league' rather than 'Arsenal are top of the league' - though from my point of view it just doesn't sound right!
Though best not mention 'the young keeper done well'....
Btw Werder, your English teacher's emphasis upon comprehension and expression has stood you in good stead. You are an exceptional writer.
As a former English teacher in both Grammar and Comprehensive schools I found that teaching formal grammar was a doddle for the higher grammar school streams. They understood it, lapped it up and it was a guarantee of good marks in an exam. But even in a grammar school the low streams found it a struggle, reacted against it, and they represented a third of the top 15% of the ability range.
I am speaking here of clause analysis and the parsing of parts of a sentence in the manner of traditional Latin teaching.
What I found was that pupils (we didn't call them students in those days) who didn't think they were very good at or interested in English were almost universally excellent when they were encouraged to express themselves and read widely in accordance with their interests and abilities. And I am speaking here of even the lowest Comprehensive school streams who associated print with failure.
In those situations you teach grammar and usage as it arises, though there is also a great deal that can be done more formally on spelling and usage, based upon the kind of mistakes that the class is making and using anonymous examples from their own work.
What was completely misguided was Gove's insistence, which still rules, on the teaching of formal grammar in Primary Schools, where children as young as 7 or 8 are still expected to be drilled in the naming of parts of a sentence and clause analysis, this in schools many of which have done away with their libraries in favour of computer suites
My own daughter, a Primary School teacher, has to go through the farce of giving drills in naming the parts of speech, without any success, to her 7 and 8 year olds most of whom still cannot name the days of the week, the months of the year or tell the time.
For me English teaching should be focused on pleasure and enjoyment ,the pleasure of listening to and telling stories, of engaging with literature at your own level, of expressing yourself through prose and poetry and of engaging with material which interests and motivates you. And if you enjoy any activity you will become good at it and want to do it well and improve at it. The more formal aspects of English teaching are important but should be taking place around the hub of the expression of language in use by the class at the time.
@forever-dormo Things have changed in the last half century. 😉
According to CJ in the Gazette we won't pay up his contract as we would have to pay 18 months wages in one go, so we will just keep paying him every week/Month until he goes somewhere else.
That's very generous of you to say so and I must admit my English marks at school were below average and I only noticed I understood what was correct when I used to end up rewriting copy from marketing when I worked as designer for a publishers. Though the lack of detailed grammar terminology is noticeable when learning a foreign language as I don't really have an English reference point.
Anyway, that was a really interesting post on your experience and your daughter's of teaching English - I'm sure you were a great teacher as your enthusiasm and ability to make something interesting always shines through. Plus as this forum has demonstrated on numerous occasions, once people are motivated to express themselves through writing they discover their hidden talent for it.
Hear, hear! I agree with everything you’ve said about the teaching of English. What Gove imposed on our schools was absolutely inexcusable, and not just in English. His insistence that subjects such as Art, Music and vocational syllabi were of lesser importance than the ‘traditional’ academic ones has done great damage to our education system and has left a generation of less academically-minded pupils seriously short-changed and out in the cold. Few would disagree that many abler students could also have benefited from a more varied diet.
Personally, I’ve always been thankful for having been taught some grammar at Acklam Hall. It enabled me to enjoy a career as a languages teacher and is now extremely useful for me whenever I try to learn a new language.
I went to Guisborough Grammar but don’t recall too much emphasis on the formal naming of grammatical terms. I’ve just Googled, “gerund” and I’m probably more confused now than I was before!
I do remember Mr Farrington spending time teaching us the difference between “it’s” and “its”, but I missed out on Latin classes (I can’t remember why), which I wasn’t too disappointed about at the time
I also missed out on German classes because I was one mark below the level needed in a French test I was very disappointed about that, but the bitter pill was easier to swallow when I learned that I’d have to do extra lessons of P.E., Woodwork and Technical Drawing. What’s not to like?
Is school out yet 🤔. Portsmouth v Ipswich is postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Come on BORO.
Well said Len, I had an English teacher who was always given thew pupils with apparently low expectations and he brought the subject to life and the seeming failures all passed their GCE's, pupils who were in some cases, written off.
He was inspirational, a true character and we couldn't wait for his class because there was always a surprise in how he presented his subject. When I look back I realise that he was so subtle and creative in his approach that we didn't know that we were being taught. It wasn't teaching by rote but simply teaching by a man who loved his subject and inspiring young and sometimes problem pupils. Brilliant.
The teaching profession desperately need more like him.
UTB,
John
It’s a pity Dieng didn’t leave yesterday.
Reading between the lines it looks like his objective is money - wanting the same salary even if that means Boro meet any shortfall, or, wanting a big payoff ( Boro pay up the whole amount of his salary in one payment to the end of his contract.) So far this hasn’t happened , he’s not one of the 25 registered players and so can’t play. What does he do ? Presumably he just trains. Could his presence be a distraction and not good for morale with the rest of the players ?
Perhaps there’s still a chance of him leaving to a country with a later transfer deadline. Although I think it more likely Boro pay him off.
It seems to me that ideally another 2 or 3 players could have left which Boro wouldn’t have missed in the remaining weeks of the season.
Boro’s inability to bring in another forward makes it essential that Strelec steps up to the mark.
The next game away to Sheffield United will be tricky as they seem to be a team capable of beating anyone on their day. But their results are inconsistent and so we don’t know which team will turn up.
Should we be worried ? Of course not - afterall the Norwich game was rightly predicted to be a tricky game and look what happened !!
Philip of Huddersfield 👍🤔👍
@exmil You can’t leave until the bell has rung. Please put your chair on your desk before walking quietly out of the classroom. No running down the corridor.
.... and please write out 100 times the doctrine of the Blessed St Anthony of Vickers:
"This blog is, and always has been, about more than football"
I had an inspirational English teacher at the of age 11. Some of you here may be able to guess his name.
Glad to hear you were taught by the best!
I should mention my English teacher from when I was 11-13 years old, who was also my form teacher - he used to often arrive after lunch smelling of booze and sometimes walk into the class smoking a cigar and blowing smoke at pupils - he'd then open all the windows and tell the class (an English class) to get their hymn books out and make everyone sing the hymn 'Sing Hosanna' as loud as they could so that the headmaster would hear.
Obviously, he was a total sociopath by today's standards or 'a character' as they used to call them back then - actually his nickname was 'Dirty Duggan' and it's probably best I don't go into the reasons why too much but it was related to his insistence on making all the girls in school uniform sit in the front row while he would lean back and slouched almost horizontal in his chair as we wrote some text. The boys of course were just target practice as he randomly threw chalk and occasionally his blackboard eraser if anyone wasn't giving their full attention.
As for our History, Biology and Woodwork teachers - well they were just simply psychopaths who could explode into a rage at anytime if they were in a mood. I seem to recall the woodwork teacher once chased the Biology teacher round the school with a piece of 2x4" over an affair with his wife. Plus there was a Geography teacher who had an affair with a 16-year pupil and had to leave the school.
Thankfully, there were some really good teachers who would go the extra mile to make their lessons interesting and were great people too - particularly my Physics teacher, Mr Turner, who gave me my interest in science. Certainly was a different time back then but nothing compared to the stories my parents tell of their school days - but that was in stereotypical black and white in those days...
Thank you, Peter, you are far too kind. The sole advantage I may have had for pupils in my first teaching post was that I was 30-40 years younger than most members of staff.
Your post reminded me of the single piece of advice I got from my professor on being appointed to a university lectureship in the early 70s. The only thing you can get the sack for here, he informed me, is "gross moral turpitude". On asking what that meant, he simply replied, "Sleeping with the Vice-Chancellor's wife."
Yes. We did notice that at the time.
Edit: Just to be clear. This was a reply to your first post, not your second!
@lenmasterman - I have SO MUCH enjoyed reading this thread of the Blog, especially your posts. A Sir William Turner's School boy (Coatham) here but only after having gone to the local Secondary Modern school: a "late developer" even at SWT. Some of the teachers I had there influenced my life for the better, for the next 50+ years and counting.
And in the football, it's Sheff Utd 1-1 Oxford United with the Blades pulling level just before HT, and Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea in the League Cup Semi-Final 2nd leg just before HT.
Sheff Utd v Boro will not now be crossing my mind until tomorrow (Wednesday) at the earliest (maybe even Thursday) but that still gives plenty of time before the game next Monday evening. I am afraid that life, generally, intervened.
Just a little bit of history, how I come to support Middlesbrough. I was born and brought up in the border town of Duns in the Scottish Borders. I go back there a lot as I have a friend who I went to school with. When I was 18 my parents decided to move to Redcar in 1965 on the advice of my fathers brother's, they already moved there a few years before. I wasn't happy as I felt I was 5 years behind the times. I had to learn very quickly.
I live now in Skelton since 1977.
My first Boro game was at a evening match in 1966, I thinks it was against Oxford United on and the result for was 4- 2 in favour of Boro, Then I became a season ticket holder . My favourite time was when Bruce Rioch was manager.
Obviously I enjoyed the Bryan Robson time and the magic of Juninho.
After Robson left, I gave up my season ticket. I haven't been back since. But as you know I remain a supporter. I also love my Scotland team and love to see Celtic and Rangers do well in Europe. I think the two Scottish clubs should be in the English league's . There are Welsh teams already in that league. UTB