Pretensions to Good Grammar on SG 1

[Livi2Jack]

Has anyone else noticed the hommage to good grammar on the show and yet, the lack of it as convenient? In S6, during the Other Guys, O'Neill corrects Herak for ending a sentence in a preposition. In 2010, he corrects the Ambassador for saying, "who" instead of "whom." In some briefing scenes, he makes a point of saying "with which" instead of ending the sentence with the preposition "with."

And yet....no one correctly uses the verb to be with the appropriate pronoun "I" instead of "me" as in "that is I" instead of "that is me," which is incorrect.

Anyone want to nitpick more grammar?

[Torley]

Haha... I'm not a big grammar nitpicker -- because a lot of it has to do with human-created rules that are subject to change just like many other things we have made. As long as you understand what's being said, that's what ultimately matters to me. I think O'Neill is just having a dig and being his usual smartass self, which is really funny. But apart from what you said, I can't really think of many other erroneous violations of grammar on SG-1, excluding oddly-structured alien chatter.

[SaharaGate]

I love the way O'Neill (and the show) nags about good grammar. I always notice it and find it funny...but that might just be cause I study lit.

As far a the "I" vs "me" thing though, I think it's fine to use "me" colloquially. In fact, I think they would come off sounding very stilted and way too 'proper' if they always remembered to use flawless grammar, even when being hunted down by a Goa'uld or something.

I do, however, find it mildly annoying when people say "Sarah and me are going to the movies" (should be "I") or "Jenny is sharing her chocolate with Sarah and I" (should be "me").

That said, I don't think this happens all that often on the show...but it's surprising how much grammer is missed aurally that wouldn't slip by you in an essay or other piece of writing. A whole lot of things

I guess it depends on the formality of the situation - Goa'uld fighting = informal situation, getting a promotion = formal situation.

Of course, O'Neill can do whatever he likes for effect He could get away with just about anything.

[KorbenDirewolf]

All depends on if one is speaking/writing in English or American...

[Elwe Singollo]

Also i think the seventh season premiere, Jack corrects Anubis's first prime, "You ended that sentence with a preposition", which was pretty funny

[stargate barbie]

i have noticed that although jack does seem to be very much aware of what is correct grammer (unlike myself ), he does only seem to correct those he doesn't like. he corrected herak, he corrected joe faxon (in 2010). does anyone have any other examples of o'neill correcting someones grammer?
(it has made me wonder though, does jack have a degree or something in english, or english lit. or something like that?)

[stargate barbie]

Also i think the seventh season premiere, Jack corrects Anubis's first prime, "You ended that sentence with a preposition", which was pretty funny

i didn't notice this one. i did notice it (as mentioned in the first post here) in "the other guys", in season 6. jack "corrects" herak by saying, " you ended that sentence with a preposition... you b@$t@rd!". although on repeats on sky one (and probably channel 4, knowing them) at 6pm they do cut out the last part.

[SGSlugger]

though, does jack have a degree or something in english, or english lit. or something like that?)

Well he is a Colonel, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that you need a degree or something in order to progress up the chain of command. So he could very well hold a degree in English.......or sarcasm.

[stargate barbie]

i think i could very easily get a degree in sarcasm.

but from the evidence i've seen so far, it does seem to me that english would be the most likely subject for him to have achived the most academically (hey, i speak it, how tough could it be? ). he's a pretty smart and seemingly educated guy, and he only seems to really show that when he feels threatened by someone or is trying to do his alpha male thing or just in general situations like that.

[SGSlugger]

i(hey, i speak it, how tough could it be? ).

A lot harder than you think. American English is one of the most messed up languages in the world, and perhaps the hardest...except of course for Chinese or Japanese, which ever one has the funky symbols. (I get them confused )

I think that Jack is a lot smarter than he wants people to think, and only plays dumb so that people under estimate him.

[stargate barbie]

A lot harder than you think. American English is one of the most messed up languages in the world, and perhaps the hardest...except of course for Chinese or Japanese, which ever one has the funky symbols. (I get them confused )

I think that Jack is a lot smarter than he wants people to think, and only plays dumb so that people under estimate him.

i don't think
i am aware that english is one of the more complex languages. and yes jack does seem to make himself appear less intelligent than he actually is, but it comes through in certain instances, for example when he gets frustrated or angry. the most likely cause for this is that form a strategic point of view, he wants people to undersetimate him, and from a personal point of view perhaps he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. he strikes me as the kind of person who doesn't like to be in the spotlight, and doesn't want to be showered with praise, as he probably feels that he is undeserving of that praise. i think he can be somewhat low in confidence, and likes to play down how obviously fantastic he is. why he's almost as fantastic as teal'c and just as fantastic as carter or daniel.

[Torley]

English is both easy and hard.

The easy part of it is, you can mangle and mispronounce the language so much and usually people will get a good idea what you still mean. Not so with Chinese or Japanese, which are very selective about pronounciation of syllables and tones.

Haha... I'm getting a visual of when Jack escapes his cell in "Abyss" and beats down that guard by giving him more than a few hard punches to the face -- I wish that guard at LEAST had a grammatically incorrect one-liner to further justify Jack being "The Teacher"!

[Gatetrixer]

I love the way O'Neill (and the show) nags about good grammar. I always notice it and find it funny...but that might just be cause I study lit.

As far a the "I" vs "me" thing though, I think it's fine to use "me" colloquially. In fact, I think they would come off sounding very stilted and way too 'proper' if they always remembered to use flawless grammar, even when being hunted down by a Goa'uld or something.

I do, however, find it mildly annoying when people say "Sarah and me are going to the movies" (should be "I") or "Jenny is sharing her chocolate with Sarah and I" (should be "me").

That said, I don't think this happens all that often on the show...but it's surprising how much grammer is missed aurally that wouldn't slip by you in an essay or other piece of writing. A whole lot of things

I guess it depends on the formality of the situation - Goa'uld fighting = informal situation, getting a promotion = formal situation.

Of course, O'Neill can do whatever he likes for effect He could get away with just about anything.

Although I am immersing myself in Stargate fanfic and enjoying it very much, that one grammar mistake you mentioned above, "Jenny is sharing her chocolate with Sarah and I" is rampant in fanfic-- even in otherwise extremely well-written stories. And while reading one of these great stories I am jerked back into reality by this mistake. Can't help it. And then there are the spelling mistakes which I assume are due to spell-check. Very common is "bare" for "bear," as in, "Sam couldn't bare to see Jack hurt."

[Jafana]

I agree.
I don't have a lot of time to spend reading fanfic (stupid uni essays) so when I do read it, I hate it when the authors have been slack with grammar and spelling.
I must admit to being a bit slack about the same things on the forum, but I feel it's a bit different. It's the informal vs. formal situations.
As comedic as a fanfic can be, a piece of written work like that should at least conform to basic rules, for the simple reason that a well written piece of work is a lot easier to read, and thus, a lot more fun.

If in the first few sentences of a fan fic I find more than five mistakes, or I can tell the author simply hasn't put any effort into proofreading their work, I give up and don't bother.

[Madeleine]

"That is me" is correct. 'I' is the First Person Singular Nominative, and 'me' is the First Person Singular Accusative. In the sentence "That is me" the verb is 'is', the subject is 'that' and the object is 'me'. 'I' is only for use when the FPS is the subject of the verb, when it is the object it's correct to use 'me'.

Daniel got that wrong too a couple of times, he's used 'Sam and I' on occasions where it ought to have been 'Sam and me'. He's a linguist, he ought to know!