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To: Arthur McGowan
People who speak English say "graduated from..."

It is an English (the country, not just the language) way of speaking.

They also say that someone is "in hospital" rather than "in THE hospital".

12 posted on 01/11/2015 11:53:48 PM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: BwanaNdege

But in the UK, one does not ‘graduate’ from secondary school at all (which is what Hogwarts is, after all). The term is starting to spread into British English because of the American influence, where it is a correct term, but historically and correctly in Britain, one only graduates from a university (which is why those studying their Bachelors degree are undergraduates).

So whichever way you look at it, it’s bad English :)

Personally I think ‘graduated from...’ is also better in British English regardless, and would see ‘graduated’ without the ‘from’ as more an American idiom.


15 posted on 01/12/2015 12:06:29 AM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: BwanaNdege

Not to mention, that Harry did not complete his schooling at Hogwarts anyway (he left after his sixth year, not returning for the seventh, instead fighting the final year of the war that year) and according to JK Rowling, did not go back afterwards (nor did Ron, although Hermione, naturally, did).


17 posted on 01/12/2015 12:09:08 AM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: BwanaNdege; Arthur McGowan

And while we’re at it, what’s with this thing (increasingly prevalent I might add) of leaving out the verb “to be” in expressing infinitives?

For example people will say (and write):

“This food needs cooked.”
“The house needs cleaned.”
“The dogs need walked.”

All of these things need *TO BE* cooked, cleaned or walked.

Or, they might need cooking, cleaning or walking.

< /grammarnazi >


31 posted on 01/12/2015 1:27:56 AM PST by shibumi ("Walk through the fire - Fly through the smoke")
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To: BwanaNdege

“...Two peoples separated by a common language.” —George Patton


58 posted on 01/12/2015 8:36:05 AM PST by onedoug
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