h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I got an invitation from a colleague and decided to join up. The very same day I created a profile, I was head hunted by a recruitment company. The contact person seemed to know almost as much as I about my current employer. which made me suspect they've made recruitments before.

It seems their client went for an internal applicant instead.

Still, it got me thinking.

Accepting invitations from current and former colleagues through Linkedin and checking their profiles, I think I need to update my profile a bit.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you a link to this test I took; 'Commonly Confused Words'. I posted the results on Linkedin but whether that was a wise decision or not, I don't know.

I've linked to this test before but, as the son of one of my colleagues (who she considers to be well versed in English) really appricieated (sp?) I'll repost the link:

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test

On the page where you get your results, there's a non-clickable link to a very good page explaining the answers.

I'll not gloat about my own results, since I've already done that in a hootoo thread.

I might also be repeating myself - I do tend to be quite forgetful, for which I hope you'll forgive me.

Well, as a native speaker, I got 100%. It's a really good test - got all my favourite bugbears! I shall recommend it to my friends who teach English.

Thanks for the link, Ti. Make my day it did

I left Linkedin because it kept offering me w*rk - and I had quite enough already. So much in fact that I took early retirement

100/100/93(silly mistake)/93(ok, that's a fair mistake)

And a LinkedIn invite for you

Please note:

"It's not my fault!
Regarding your results page

This is how it works: I wrote the questions, and I assigned points to each correct question. The program (or whatever it is called) on OKCupid calculates your score based on your answers and the points that I assigned to each answer. Sometimes its calculations are wrong, giving you 0% when you answered all of them correctly in reality. I am very sorry about this; however, there is nothing I can do about it! That is one of the main reasons I created this blog - so you can check your answers. Please don't get mad at me and post the fact that OKCupid scored your test wrong.
Additional Information on Pointing: Some questions receive 1 point while others receive 2. The points for each question are listed in the Answer Key. That is how you can receive a score of something other than a multiple of 10 in a 10-question section."

Forgot to mention - you don't actually need to register to take the test - just hit OK.

I got
100
100
100
87 (missed a 1 point question and only got 1 point where I could have gotten 4)

Just got this feedback in a discussion on Fb:

"It's 'Naomi and I' ...never 'Naomi and me'.
'He and Naomi went to the banquet with me.' is correct, but it changes to 'He went to the banquet with Naomi and I.' when you reorder the words in the sentence. Her rule is incorrect."

Her rule:
""The words I and me can sometimes get confusing. There are two rules that make using these two words very simple.
1) Never put yourself first.
2) Remove the other person from the equation.
In this sentence, remove Naomi. Would you say "He went to the banquet with I", or "He went to the banquet with me"? Me is the correct choice in this sentence."

I have no idea

I didn't register - but now I'm curious: Who are better at this: Gay women? Bisexual men?

Anyone who speaks a European language other than English would probably have no problem with anything involving accusative or dative objects.

I'm assuming that it's similar in Danish to German. The differentiation is also made in the Romantic languages. It's just English (and to some extent, maybe Dutch) that glosses over it, which is why English native speakers are confused about "I" and "me".

It's not that hard, after all.

You lost me at "accusative"

We don't have femininum, maskulinum and genitivum in Danish - only common gender and neutrum. That's all I know

The way they tell us here is : "is the pronoun the grammatical subject of the sentence, or a complement?"
If it's the subject, then use the subject pronoun (I),
if it's a complement, use the complement pronoun (me).

_Bobby and I_ sang the blues.
Feeling good was good enough for _Bobby McGee and me_.

And a free earworm for _you and me_.
(or : _You and I_ now have an earworm).

Makes sense, Super

"He went with Naomi and me." is correct. Never use 'I' with a preposition; a lot of English speakers say "between you and I" and they are WRONG but it somehow sounds sophisticated, so the error persists.

with me, for me, by me, at me, under/over me, to me.

This is correct: "It is I." Or 'It is I who put the kryptonite under your pillow." because the verb 'to be' is not transitive.

This is correct:
[ring ring] Hello?
[caller] Can I speak to Naomi?
[Naomi] This is she.

'this is her' is wrong.
'Well, you can, but you may not' is pedantic hostility and grounds for ending the call.

I got it right, according to all of you except one

That's good enough for me. I may not be able to explain how I did it and why it is correct, but I don't need to. I am retired