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Can someone please tell me whats wrong with these 2 sentences, and the correct way to right them?

1. After he finished high school, Tom is going to university.

2. At 3:00, Sarah is going to play swim with her friend Marsha.

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@cdog67,

Minor corrections are in order.

You wrote, 1.

Quote:

After he finished high school, Tom is going to university.

How about, "Tom is going to university after he finishes high school.

You wrote, 2.

Quote:

At 3:00, Sarah is going to play swim with her friend Marsha.

How about, "Sarah is going to swim with her friend, Marsha, at 3.00."

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

So that cdog67 doesn't think that word order was the problem, I'll add that the following would be perfectly fine:

After he finishes high school, Tom is going to university.
At 3:00, Sarah is going to swim with her friend, Marsha.

In the first sentence, the verb tense of "finish" was incorrect. In the second, the word "play" is not appropriate since swim is itself used as a verb (unlike if you used "basketball", for example) and "Marsha" generally takes a comma before because it is an appositive. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it, as if you were adding a detail that is secondary.

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@cdog67,

Cdog we'd say "…the university…."

Commas unnecessary. The trend is away from its use except where meaning is entailed. Marsha's case debatable

One doesn't "play swim", one merely swims

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

Admittedly, "going to university" is not as common in the States as other parts of the English-speaking world (typically we'd say "going to college") but I see no reason to add a definitive article as it adds nothing and refers to no particular university.

1 Reply

@Valpower,

Yes, no, Val, technically maybe you're right but "going to university" just ain't collo over here

2 Replies

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Yes, no, Val, technically maybe you're right but "going to university" just ain't collo over here

It is absolutely what people in the British English world do after they leave school, although it tends to be shortened to "going to uni" these days.

What is this "collo" thing that Yanks keep mentioning?

2 Replies

@contrex,

Even as a Yank, I don't know what "collo" means. But I'm also not a part of the living, breathing language that is English—what with my commas and all.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

dalehileman wrote:

Yes, no, Val, technically maybe you're right but "going to university" just ain't collo over here

It is absolutely what people in the British English world do after they leave school, although it tends to be shortened to "going to uni" these days.

What is this "collo" thing that Yanks keep mentioning?

I intuitively take it as colloquial. Yes, Dale?

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Of course. We're trending away from word endings these days.

0 Replies

@Valpower,

I might be liking valpower.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

Quote:

I intuitively take it as colloquial. Yes, Dale?

Yes, Ori

I'll grant you "collo" isn't much used but like "q" for "question" such abbrs are needed in an environment such as this

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@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Yes, no, Val, technically maybe you're right but "going to university" just ain't collo over here

I don't see what relevance it is that a usage is not "collo" "over here". As I understand it, colloquial means informal, casual, conversational.

Colloquial: He's rubbed my Dad up the wrong way, and that's why he's in the ****.

Formal: He has antagonised my father, and that is why he is in trouble.

"Going to university", in British English (and US to a certain extent) can be used in all registers from informal to formal, and is certainly correct English.

2 Replies

@contrex,

I agree. University and college is interchangeable without much difference in use.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

I agree. University and college is interchangeable without much difference in use.

In Britain, a college is not necessarily a university-level institution. It can just mean "place of education for older children and adults". If we mean university we say so. If someone went to "college" after school they could have learned plumbing or typing.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Is 'college' beyond the high school graduate level?

Quote:

The University of Oxford has 38 Colleges and 6 Permanent Private Halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university, and all teaching staff and students studying for a degree at the university must belong to one of the colleges or PPHs.

There seems to be much confusion in the UK.

1 Reply

@contrex,

Quote:

"Going to university"…... is certainly correct English.

Con I didn't say it wasn't. Just that in my 83-year lifetime I don't believe I have ever heard it said that way

0 Replies

@cicerone imposter,

cicerone imposter wrote:

Is 'college' beyond the high school graduate level?

Quote:
The University of Oxford has 38 Colleges and 6 Permanent Private Halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university, and all teaching staff and students studying for a degree at the university must belong to one of the colleges or PPHs.

There seems to be much confusion in the UK.

There isn't any confusion in the UK. You seem to be confused however.
In general, college is beyond high-school graduate level. Like I said, 'college' can mean various things. At its broadest it is any place where mature people study. A number of British private schools include the word in their names - Eton College, for example. Nobody calls attending these "going to college". However every town and city has "further education" (FE) colleges where people aged 16 or over can go after leaving school to get extra qualifications to equip them for university, theological colleges where priests train, and so on. There are vocational colleges for teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and so on. Some award degrees. Finally there are universities, which are at the "higher education" (HE) level. Some of these are monolithic in structure, but some like Oxford, Cambridge, London are made up of smaller units or subdivisions called... wait for it... colleges!

See here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/tutors/learning-environments/tutors-article-colleges

1 Reply

@contrex,

If that's so, then the UK doesn't use words in any consistent manner.

This is what I found.

Quote:

What is the UK Definition of "COLLEGE" PLEASE....? - Yahoo Answers
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid...
Apr 8, 2012 - College is the UK equivalent to the latter two years of high school attended between the ages of 16 and 18. It is the same as a sixth form in the sense ...

Then the 38 colleges at Oxford are......???????

0 Replies

cicerone imposter, I would like to break this to you gently, but I don't know how, so I'll just go right ahead: you are posting like a dick. Read and try to understand what has already been posted. You must be desperate if you are quoting some idiot from Yahoo Answers. Yes, we use the language "inconsistently" in Britain (like everyone does, everywhere.). Are you on the spectrum? Is that why you don't get it?

1 Reply

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