GCSE'S

I’m sure that Ms Truss would be quite appalled by the lack of a question mark in that sentence, ‘Mr Hawkins’. :p

Having read that book, I can agree! 😎

Paul

Then you would be wrong. Could I suggest you read a book by Lynne Truss called “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”.

I’m sure that Ms Truss would be quite appalled by the lack of a question mark in that sentence, ‘Mr Hawkins’. :p

Which was slated for being incorrect in a few ways

While we’re on the subject of education, plural forms of words do not take an apostrophe (ie, GCSEs, not CGSE’s).
(

This is not correct. Plural forms of words can take apostrophes.
e.g. The People’s Park, the children’s books, the men’s hats etc.

An apostrophe is used to indicate the plural of letters e.g. A’s not As.
It is also used to indicate the plural of words e.g. if’s and but’s; do’s and don’t’s.

If you wanted to write GCSE’s all in capitals, for use in a headline, would you write GCSES or GCSE’S?

Well done to everyone who got their results on Thursday. I got my A2 results the week before and was very happy as I can go to uni!

And I also do hate it when the same people every year come on the TV every August and announce that exams are getting easier. That may be, but that isn’t our problem, it’s the government’s, and don’t make it sound like you are belittling the achievements of students who work very hard for their results.

They do work hard, you’re right (note the apostrophe :D). No-one can know whether they are getting easier or not, that is an assumption people make based on overall results. The increasing trend is far more likely to be down to things like wider access to the web and computers and the fact that year-on-year teachers get a better idea of how best to prepare students and what is likely to come up and how that subject should be tackled.

To say they are getting easier, is just lazy thinking. Sadly as the overall results trend increases, it makes the qualification level less and less valid. The only person who wanted to see my GCSE results was my sixth form college. The only people who wanted to see my A-Level results was my Uni. And if you are going for a job that requires a University education, the only thing they will want to see is your degree result. (Or in many cases, just the fact that you have one)

If anyone out there didn’t get the results they needed, don’t worry. I did mine in ’99, got 3 B’s, 8 C’s and a D. Now, I’m on the verge of becoming a Chartered Surveyor, so it isn’t necessarily as bad as it looks now, if you didn’t get the grades

Steve

Well done to everyone who got their results on Thursday. I got my A2 results the week before and was very happy as I can go to uni!

And I also do hate it when the same people every year come on the TV every August and announce that exams are getting easier. That may be, but that isn’t our problem, it’s the government’s, and don’t make it sound like you are belittling the achievements of students who work very hard for their results.

I contracted recently as an Admissions Officer for a college so I would say GCSE’s is an incorrect use of an apostrophe, something which I corrected in the mailings.

Anyway well done all, you deserve it 😎

Education

I left school a long time ago! It was a secondary modern school in the fifties and I had not a single qualification.However ,as we all know education is always an ongoing thing and to those who do not get good results there will always be another chance!Actually eleven months after leaving school I joined the R.A.F. and went back to school for 18 months(boy entrant).Still no certificate at the end of that!After the R.A.F. I joined a government organisation(electricity )and had to study by correspondence course for three years!Much later during a period of unemployment I did a sandwich course at university(not bread making!),this at 45 !So ,my written english is far from perfect but I make an effort and I have to agree that reading on many forums the standard of english is just not good enough.who is to blame?

There instead of their.

Their instead of there.

Of instead of have. (As in I would of thought it was easy to pass my English GCSE.)

Been instead of being.

To instead of too.

Too instead of to.

Criticizing for criticising. (Don’t care what the spell checker says, this is supposed to be English.)

Nowerdays?

That’s just for starters. If people cannot tell the difference between there and their, too and to and of and have, please tell me how you can be considered to have a sound grasp of the written English language?

My written English is far from perfect, but believe me, an outsider visiting these forums who has the slightest grasp of written English must consider half of the posters here to be border line illiterate. God only knows how those who have English as a second language find all this.

I suppose the next few posts will be the usual ill considered rants which will be vomited out in response. But the issue which I don’t think has been mentioned yet is that of courtesy, manners and politeness. It is common courtesy to at least attempt to pay lip service to spelling, grammar and punctuation when writing for others to read. You may not realise this, but in effect, when writing on fora such as these, you are writing for publication. Your words can be seen all around the world. May even be copied and taken as Gospel by some. Doesn’t that make any of you pause and think “maybe I cud of writed that better?”

Regards,

kev35

Hi
I was a Thicky at school but if I was marked on my last 3 Years work for my GCEs?? I would have easily passed the exams they have now. I wonder how many school pupils wo0uld get such high scores if they had to take REAL EXAMS, even some Universitys DO NOT accept the exam results for entry nowerdays.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Perhaps if you managed to write and spell things properly, thought about what you did, and not continued to make mistakes, then I might have a bit of sympathy with you. It’s rather pointless having a go at me and still managing to make grammatical errors, even in your last posting. Yes, there’s always one, on both sides it seems, we all make mistakes, I accept that, true, it may be just a Forum and not an exam, but is that a good way to start off your career, by not having the enthusiasm to do things properly, then dismiss it as unimportant.
Good luck with your job interview, just make sure your spell check is working when you write out your CV.

Amen!

Not been a total idiot but it has to be said,

I wouldn’t mind people who are criticising the education system, to have ago at all these GCSE’S and pass them. (Pass Grade in my eyes is a C not matter what anybody says)

I think you’ll find that some of those who are criticising the education system did quite well when they took their own exams, thank you very much! :p

Yes – we did have schools in those days. And electricity, too……. but no Internet. :diablo:

Not been a total idiot but it has to be said,

I wouldn’t mind people who are criticising the education system, to have ago at all these GCSE’S and pass them. (Pass Grade in my eyes is a C not matter what anybody says)

Can I point out the error in the use of the term UK Education System

There are several education systems in use in the UK, that of the Scottish, some covering England, some England and Wales and others England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

While we’re on the subject of education, plural forms of words do not take an apostrophe (ie, GCSEs, not CGSE’s).

I agree that it isn’t all that important on an Internet forum, but some of you may find that any worthwhile employer will take a rather more robust view of the important of correct English.

Like it or not, lads – based on what I saw at first hand as my own three daughters passed through the school and exam system – overall standards in education in the UK have fallen over the past few decades. 🙁

I totally agree Grey. I have a son who is just about to start a Mech Eng degree at University next month, and my daughter has just collected her GCSE results – so I too have an interest in the current UK education system. It is difficult to prove whether it is the exams becoming easier, or the current trend to “teach to pass” rather than “teach to educate” that is at fault, but I too believe that too many students leaving school today lack a grasp of basic maths or English language skills. Sad, but true.

While we’re on the subject of education, plural forms of words do not take an apostrophe (ie, GCSEs, not CGSE’s).

I agree that it isn’t all that important on an Internet forum, but some of you may find that any worthwhile employer will take a rather more robust view of the important of correct English.

Like it or not, lads – based on what I saw at first hand as my own three daughters passed through the school and exam system – overall standards in education in the UK have fallen over the past few decades. 🙁

People only say they’re getting easier because they’re jealous that people have better results then they’ve got.

Maybe the olympics are getting easier, because more world records are been broken ever time…

The government is apparently planning a new medal structure for the 2012 games:

First – Gold * (Star) Medal
Second – Gold Medal
Third – Gold Medal
Fourth – Silver Medal
Fifth – Silver Medal
Sixth – Bronze Medal
Seventh – Bronze Medal
Eighth – ‘Winner’ Certificate

Well to everyone who got good results, I got mine a year ago. Got AS level results last week and got a C,D and E, which I expected becuase what was happening around that time. Still, I’m going to do resits.

Well done to all.

There’s always one…

I don’t understand why people say thing like that, do you want people to laugh, or to respect you more, because you are criticizing someone on a forum. (It’s not an essay/exam at the end of the day!)

Perhaps if you managed to write and spell things properly, thought about what you did, and not continued to make mistakes, then I might have a bit of sympathy with you. It’s rather pointless having a go at me and still managing to make grammatical errors, even in your last posting. Yes, there’s always one, on both sides it seems, we all make mistakes, I accept that, true, it may be just a Forum and not an exam, but is that a good way to start off your career, by not having the enthusiasm to do things properly, then dismiss it as unimportant.
Good luck with your job interview, just make sure your spell check is working when you write out your CV.

People only say they’re getting easier because they’re jealous that people have better results then they’ve got.

Maybe the olympics are getting easier, because more world records are been broken ever time…

Well said! 😀