Tree has now fallen on head. Simples!

In reply to a post by ian72:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

What's that in English please?

then he and you if he not be you clearly have no idea of what Openreach's responsibilities are

Classic.... That sentence following the first

"Classic" is close, more accurately "archaic".

I suppose it would be better as "then he and you if you not be he ...", and perhaps "... of the extent of Openreach's responsibilities", but otherwise I think you will find it is grammatically spot on. Maybe a little difficult for the "write as you speak", or even worse "write as you text" generation , or those that can only handle single-clause sentences and not familiar with properly constructed conditional clauses.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 03-Jan-12 12:01:24)

Personally I think it needed a few commas as there were no natural breaks in the text. But, I think I knew what you ment and was only providing a little leg pull...

Perhaps:

then he and you, if he not be you, clearly have no idea of what Openreach's responsibilities are

I agree the commas may be useful for some readers but they are not necessary. Hence their omission in this case - a leg-pull as you surmise.

I find the commas essential and I am an English pendant and no fool!

EDIT: But no great speller as you can see.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Tue 03-Jan-12 14:35:13)

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I find the commas essential and I am an English pendant and no fool!!

You just "hanging" around then?

Sorry, couldn't resist and obviously further derailing this thread - but then as it had died months ago I don't think I am doing too much harm

In that case you will have great difficulty reading a reasonably complex legal document .

I think we can all agree however that the post I was complaining about was of a rather low standard.

In reply to a post by ian72:

ROFL!

Ouch! Corrected!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In that case you will have great difficulty reading a reasonably complex legal document .

But I don't and this forum is not a Court and 2 people have agreed that your English is wanting.