The Convention: an argument for grammar

Blogs

The Convention: an argument for grammar7

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 3 Jul 2009

Celina Ribeiro unleashes her non-conventional fury at the grammatical faux pas of convention...

I had thought this would ease with time, but I was wrong.

I was going to keep quiet, but Jonathon Grapsas' new blog post has unleashed the fury. Be warned: it is a trivial fury.

Last year I was disoriented in the weeks leading up to the Institute of Fundraising National Convention as people would constantly farewell me with adieus such as "see you at Convention". They would say things like "the lunch queues are very long at Convention", "I met my third husband at Convention" and the like.

Never would they use the word "the".

Has our time become so sparse that now we have to abandon the word "the" in basic conversation I wondered? But this hip-shortening was omnipresent. Although it is a convention, noone ever referred to it as the convention. Just convention. Always.

Let me here and now wage a campaign for the word "the". As far as I can gather, the word 'Convention' is a noun. I have even been so generous in this blog as to make it a proper noun. And, as a noun - proper or otherwise - Convention demands a definite article. It demands "the".

I have now used the word "the" 11 times in this blog, thus proving my point that it is a critical feature of the English language. In our frenzied lead up to three days of seminars, 'Inspiration Shows' and buffet lunches, let us not abandon that which makes our language a thing of beauty. Let us together make a stand for "the".

Directory: Institute of Fundraising
Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro

Place a comment

Raj
6 Jul 2009

Celina i think you need one of these t-shirts http://shop.cafepress.com/grammar

[Reply]

Mathew Iredale
6 Jul 2009

I agree wholeheartedly. This sort of thing really gets my goat. It's the same with the Notting Hill Carnival which has, for the last few years, referred to itself simply as Carnival. It's just ostentation, pure and simple. Is the upcoming convention the only one? No. Is it even the only fundaising convention? No. It's just another example of ill-thought out branding/marketing. If anyone asks, I shall be speaking at THE convention - so there!

[Reply]

Vibeka Mair
6 Jul 2009

I disagree. When something becomes very dear and is a tradition for a high number of people it's perfectly acceptable for the definite article to be done away with.

Take church ie. Are you going to church? Not are you going to THE church?

I'm hope you are having fun at Convention, Celina x

[Reply]

Peter Andrews
3 Jul 2009

Agreed!!!

[Reply]

Howard Lake
3 Jul 2009

May the definite article rule indefinitely. I should also argue for jussive subjunctives, since I have just used one.

[Reply]

Celina Ribeiro
3 Jul 2009

I thank you for your support.

With support gathering on Twitter, it seems a critical mass may finally return the definite article to its rightful place. Why is it that we have remained silent so long?

[Reply]

Tania Mason
3 Jul 2009

Celina, shouldn't it be: "Why is it that we have remained silent FOR so long?" or did you mean "Why is it that we have remained silent? So long."

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.

Tags

Fundraising campaigns

Celina Ribeiro is the editor of Fundraising magazine and daily contributor to CivilSociety.co.uk.

Follow Celina @Celina_Ribeiro_

Looking ahead to Convention...

Tweeting from the National Convention

The Institute defies Convention

Thompson to chair National Convention

Why the word 'leverage' has no place in charity comms

Data is great, insights are a hell of a lot better

Celina Ribeiro (80) Niki May Young (35) Jonathon Grapsas (30) Michael Naidu (23) Adrian Beney (20) Andrew Scadding (20) Andrew Chaggar (17) Jonathan Waddingham (15) Suzie Who (15) Vibeka Mair (14)

Kirsty Weakley (14) David Philpott (13) Tania Mason (11) Daniel Fletcher (9) David Burrows (8) Alistair McLean (7) Robert Ashton (7) Gareth Jones (6) Beth Yorath (6) Rowena Lewis (5) Tom Eeles (5) Mark Astarita (4) Stephen Pidgeon (4) Tod Norman (4) Nick Cater (4) Alan Gosschalk (3) Tony Elischer (3) Jeremy Swain (3) Rob Dyson (3) Ingrid Marson (3) Adam Rothwell (2) Beth Breeze (2) Richard Radcliffe (2) Matthew Bowcock (2) Joe Saxton (2) Reuben Turner (2) Tris Lumley (2) John Tate (2) Garreth Spillane (2) Gordon Hunter (2) Chester Mojay-Sinclare (2) Allan Freeman (2) Lisa Clavering (2) Lindsay Boswell (1) Victoria Cook (1) David Davison (1) Bill Lewis (1) Giles Pegram (1) Jo Swinhoe (1) Derek Humphries (1) Cathy Pharoah (1) Pauline Broomhead (1) Gordon Michie (1) Chris Ingram (1) Martin Farrell (1) Matt Goody (1) Ian MacQuillin (1) Jackie Mendoza (1) Max Du Bois (1) Alan Hawkes (1) Ken Burnett (1) Ian Allsop (1) Martin Brookes (1) Tesse Akpeki (1) Anne Moynihan (1) Sara Llewellin (1) Rupert Tappin (1) Julia Unwin (1) Jessica Sklair (1) Scott Gray (1) Stephen Hammersley (1) Keith Collins (1) Liz Tait (1) Peter O'Hara (1) Debbie Attwood (1) Joanna Motion (1) Paul Marvell (1) Amanda McLean (1) Jason Suckley (1) Paul Amadi (1) Imogen Ward (1) June O'Sullivan (1) Kath Abrahams (1) Dan Corry (1) Douglas Rouse (1) Belinda Pratten (1) Jonathan Last (1) Paul Emery (1) Marcelle Speller (1) Nick Aldridge (1) Philip Spedding (1) Sir David Varney (1) Liam Barrington-Bush (1) Jeff Brooks (1) Vicki Prout (1) Dan Thompson (1) Claire Routley (1) Steven George-Hilley (1) Emma-Lynn Houghton (1) Peter Horah (1) Neelam Makhijani (1) George Matafonov (1)

Less +++ More +++