> The American singer's affect was using a British accent.
This is correct. It may not be the best example. "Affect" in the sense of "put-on" or "pretense" has faded from US english except in psychiatry.
> "the company are"
I believe that some sub-set of British english takes "company" as a plural collection, at least in older usage. The old BBC would have a Policy, similar to the Chicago manual my mother kept near the typewriter. Dunno who runs the Beeb now.
> could of
Language should be comfortable. I'm from Missouri. Out there, "could of" is known to be "wrong" but is universally accepted in speech. Formal copy-editors will correct it in house-writing, but not in quotes. "Could of" presents a problem for syntax, but english is a bastard common-person language and I expect "could have" to become more acceptable even in formal writing. At least until it is pushed-out by some oriental phrase when orientals become the dominant users of english.
> hate mixed metaphors. I heard *batting from the same hymn-sheet*
Hah! That one is too good to hate.
This is correct. It may not be the best example. "Affect" in the sense of "put-on" or "pretense" has faded from US english except in psychiatry.
> "the company are"
I believe that some sub-set of British english takes "company" as a plural collection, at least in older usage. The old BBC would have a Policy, similar to the Chicago manual my mother kept near the typewriter. Dunno who runs the Beeb now.
> could of
Language should be comfortable. I'm from Missouri. Out there, "could of" is known to be "wrong" but is universally accepted in speech. Formal copy-editors will correct it in house-writing, but not in quotes. "Could of" presents a problem for syntax, but english is a bastard common-person language and I expect "could have" to become more acceptable even in formal writing. At least until it is pushed-out by some oriental phrase when orientals become the dominant users of english.
> hate mixed metaphors. I heard *batting from the same hymn-sheet*
Hah! That one is too good to hate.