atw: Re: austechwriter Digest V8 #19
- From: Graeme Foster <gfs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:40:17 +1100
Hmmm matched against? One presumes that derives from the noun 'boxing match'
or whatever sort of match. So we would have matched against, or in the case of
some other form of competition - 'competitioned against'.
The current brouhaha about standardised school tests is interesting - the
issues seem to me to be that:
1. Whilst we don't want a fixed in the mud, 18th century Dickensian English,
if anyone can use any words or conventions they like, we will lose the
commonality required for understanding, which could erode to impossible levels
very quickly indeed, certainly within 50 - 100 years or so.
2. Are we saying that it is impossible to define any common core of things we
should be able to do in the English language area? What arrant nonsense.
3. Debate has been poor - the 'in 1890 we were expecting students to spell the
following correctly' type stuff is very well, they were the standards - but how
good was the performance? There was always a core of people who were
intelligent, but hopeless at spelling and the like. I remember a headmaster
marking a spelling test I did in the 1950's - which I still have somewhere. I
spelled everything correctly, and he marked all 15 words as wrong. I wondered
what that was about at the time, I wonder more what it was about now.
(Alzheimers? On the piss?)
4. Many worthwhile students and members of our society will not ever spell
well, or be very proficient in the use of grammar. That is part of the point,
but what is of concern is the other 80+ %, many of whom are also doing badly.
Many of their teachers can't use English properly, so how will they?
4. The English performance of many teachers is poor - I see reports from
teachers whoy have a level of English proficiency that is unacceptable for a
primary school student. Why were they taught so badly?
5. The schools say they cannot fit any more into the curriculum - communication
skills and the like - but what seems absolutely evident to me is that there is
so much time wasting in schools it is a scandal. Having been a teacher for a
while I recognise time filling behaviour for what it is. When my children
don't want to go to school for weeks on end because all they did was watch
movies, write essays about something which remain unmarked, or somesuch, I
cringe. Our schools are in crisis in many ways.
Is this a suitable topic for debate in this forum?
On 30/01/2010, at 5:08 PM, FreeLists Mailing List Manager wrote:
> austechwriter Digest Fri, 29 Jan 2010 Volume: 08 Issue: 019
>
> In This Issue:
> Professional Superhero
> Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
> Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
> Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:55:53 +1100
> From: Chris Virtue <cvlists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Professional Superhero
>
> http://professionalsuperhero.com/
> --
> ***************************************************
> Chris Virtue
>
> __O In House Technologies
> \_\<, - a cyclist-friendly company
> ( )/( )
>
> The revolution will not be motorised
> - apologies to Gil Scott-Heron
> ***************************************************
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:05:55 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ken Randall <kenneth_james_randall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
>
> The preposition "to" is an all-purpose one which is used when
> the speaker is unsure what the correct preposition is. A similar
> example is "compared with" vs "compared to". "With" is not
> the only preposition where "to" is an alternative, indicating that it
> is used in an all-purpose way.
>
> The fact that "to" is used indiscriminately suggests that "with" is
> correct. The use of "to" in this way is fairly recent, and English
> texts from the past use only "with" (and other prepositions "to"
> substitutes for today).
>
> In the media you often either see or hear "to" when you expect
> another preposition.
> --- On Fri, 29/1/10, Neil Maloney <maloneyn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> From: Neil Maloney <maloneyn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: atw: Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Received: Friday, 29 January, 2010, 2:08 PM
>
>
>
>
>
> I've always used "matched with" when there is a range of possible matches,
> e.g. matched my green shirt with my grey trousers, but "matched to" when
> there is one only match or when the closest possible match is required, e.g.
> matched the DNA found at the scene of the crime to the defendant's record in
> the police DNA database. From the use of the indefinite article in the screen
> ("an offer") I would continue to use "match with". If there was a single
> offer only ("the offer") I would use "match to".
>
> Neil.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Anthony D'Silva
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 1:33 PM
> Subject: atw: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Recently, I came across a UI screen which looked like this:
>
> Notifications
> Receive e-mail notifications when your bid is:
> <checkbox1> Accepted
> <checkbox2> Rejected
> <checkbox3> Matched with an offer
> <checkbox4> Not matched with an offer
>
> I wasn't sure if it would be better to use “matched to” instead of “matched
> with” in <checkbox3> and <checkbox4>. I tried googling for answers and
> found that both “matched to” and “matched with” are widely used (and in some
> cases it was just “matched”, as in “you will receive notification when your
> bid matches an offer”). The fact that I am not a native speaker of English
> makes it all the more difficult to determine the correct usage.
>
> Any thoughts on the correct usage?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Regards,
> Anthony
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________________________
> Yahoo!7: Catch-up on your favourite Channel 7 TV shows easily, legally, and
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> From: "Brian Clarke" <brianclarke01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
> Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:59:55 +1100
>
> Only the Macq uses the media as an arbiter of correct usage. I use the media
> as Aunt Sallies at which to throw shies.
> Matched 'against' is another possibility - as in sports contests.
>
> Brian.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:42:09 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ken Randall <kenneth_james_randall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
>
> I was using the media as an example of incorrect usage.
> --- On Sat, 30/1/10, Brian Clarke <brianclarke01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> From: Brian Clarke <brianclarke01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: atw: Re: Correct usage conundrum: "Match to" vs "Match with"
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Received: Saturday, 30 January, 2010, 2:59 PM
>
>
>
>
>
> Only the Macq uses the media as an arbiter of correct usage. I use the media
> as Aunt Sallies at which to throw shies.
>
> Matched 'against' is another possibility - as in sports contests.
>
> Brian.
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________________________
> Yahoo!7: Catch-up on your favourite Channel 7 TV shows easily, legally, and
> for free at PLUS7. www.tv.yahoo.com.au/plus7
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of austechwriter Digest V8 #19
> **********************************
>
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