I found myself observing a course about business writing the other day. The tutor (a top journalist) explained that it was OK to start a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’.
One of the participants piped up, “My English teacher at school would have caned you for that sort of thing.”
Cue laughter in the room. The delegate concerned looked surprised: “Literally. Well, actually, it would have been the belt: it was Scotland.”
Later, we reviewed some samples of the participants’ writing. I was rather disappointed that we couldn’t apply the traditional local methods to correct the young ladies’ mistakes…
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P.S. Later, the course tutor led 1::1 sessions with each participant, in which he reviewed examples of their writing.
“It’s like being called in to see the headmaster,” one of the girls commented.
“It’s OK: I won’t use the cane,” the trainer responded.
“That’s a shame,” another of the lasses exclaimed.
“It’s OK: I won’t use the cane,” the trainer responded.
“That’s a shame,” another of the lasses exclaimed.
Cue Abel drifting away for a few minutes dreaming about caning said lass.
Sorry, that’s slanderous. I’m sure you would never be so inattentive in a work situation 😉
OH no, he would just wait for after work hours LOL
Abel: You must have loved this session. So, what did you say?