A Door Sign


A few days ago, the senior assistant for curriculum of my school put up a sign on the front door of the teachers' staffroom.It read, " Please always keep the door closed".

The sign caught the attention of all the English teachers.

Teacher A: " The sentence is wrong. It should have been: Please keep the door closed always."

Teacher B: "No, it should have been Please keep the door closed. The word 'always' is not necessary."

An hour later.

Teacher C: "My goodness, see how wrong the imperative is! It should have been 'Please always keep the door close."

Teacher D: " There's nothing wrong with the word 'closed'."

Teacher C: "But the word 'closed' is a past tense word!"

Teacher D: "It is not a past tense word. It's an adjective."

Teacher C: "Whatever!"

Two hours later.

Teacher E: " Who crossed out the word 'closed' and wrote the word 'close' on top of it?"

Teacher F: "I don't know."

Teacher E: "The sentence would have sounded better as 'Please keep door closed."

Teacher F: "No, you are wrong. The word 'Please' should be struck out.It is a redundancy."

Teacher E: "Why is it a redundancy?"

Teacher F(in an owlish tone): " The word 'please' means the same as the word 'keep'. "

Teacher E(scratching his head in uncertainty): "I see..."

Teacher F: " I can't bear to see such a badly-written sign. It's disgusting!"

With that, Teacher F tore off the sign and walked towards the office of the senior curriculum assistant.The thump of her high heels reverberated through the room.

Comments

Pat said…
OMG! No wonder no one speaks decent English in this country! Just look at who is teaching the subject!!!!
July 2, 2011 at 8:43 PM
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