For an institution of education, this inscription, on one of your structures is very unacceptable. For an institution that trains teachers to guide unsuspecting kids on how to read and spell, this mistake deserves immediate correction.
This is how Bagabaga Training College spelt "Dining" on their "Dinning" Hall. (See picture). It nearly pluck out my eyes upon a glimpse of it this morning.
A place where we dine is not spelt as DINNING HALL but DINING HALL. This is a common mistake of most except the pedantic.
Grammar Point:
Words, mainly verbs, that end with vowels don't double their consonants in the continuous form (-ing form).
Example:
Dine - Dining
Site - Siting (note it well)
Fume - Fuming
Tame - Taming
Stare - Staring (note it well)
Note: These words end with a vowel. You can also observe that the vowels are preceded by a consonant. The vowels are dropped.
Words, mainly verbs, that end with a consonant however, double their consonants in the continuous form (-ing form).
Examples:
Dig - Digging
Cut - Cutting
Sit - Sitting (note it well)
Slap - Slapping
Star - Starring (note it well)
Note: These words end with a consonant. You can also observe that the consonants are preceded by a vowel. The end consonants double.
Words that end with a consonant but preceeded by a double vowel are exempted from this rule. For instance, meet - meeting, read - reading, paint - painting, scoop - scooping and so on.
Importance of this rubric will be done by juxtaposition of the cited examples tagged "note it well".
Site - Siting and Sit - Sitting are worlds apart and can't be used interchangeably. However, the abuse abounds in many academic circles.
Stare - staring, to fix one's eyes on something.
Star - starring, to feature as a character in a movie or film. The abuse of the -ing form of these words is heartaching even on highly placed jurisdictions. At the end of most movies, particularly the African, the propensity of abuse of these two words is a tick away from a second.
DINING and DINNING are two distinctive words that are not even eligible to be described as siblings and can't be used interchangeably. One is not a variant spelling of the other as in "judgement" and "judgment" and "lunch" and "luncheon".
The last time I used "luncheon", some "daddabies" little girls thought I was speaking "Freglish". (Perhaps the pronunciation). They were startled!
Someone may want to question the rationale of my megalomania. Well, this is just an innocuous academic exercise for lovers of orthography. If I see this inscription on the structure of a waakye seller, I probably won't budge but not a whole College of Education Institution. Trust me, if one is to give a Dictation Test to teacher trainees of this institution, a good number will miss the spelling of DINING. What the brain grabs through the eye over a long period is very difficult to be overwritten!
A teacher is a powerful tool of change. That's why kids believe their teachers more than anyone else. They believe the teacher is a repository of knowledge. Literally, they are. Without any empirical bases, a solid foundation on the language provides one the springboard to gel in other areas of academic pursuits.
I am a nurse but I have great interest in language, notably grammar rubrics though I'm not immune to its hiccups because I'm not a grandson of Granny Lizzy but perhaps of Mrs Grundy.
