Readers reflect on VE Day with a stark contrast in how nations remember

In MetroTalk: Readers say Churchill would do, grammar pedantry gets serious, and one commenter wonders with news of the new Pope, whether Trump’s eyeing up the Vatican (Picture: REUTERS/Anton Vaganov)

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

Churchill would have backed the EU, says reader

This reader says Chruchill’s memory has been hijacked by Brexiteers (Picture: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, it has never been more fitting to remember the words of Winston Churchill, when discussing the solutions to global conflict.

‘There is a remedy… which would in a few years make all of Europe… free and… happy. It is to recreate the European family and provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, safety and freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe.’

Though his memory has been hijacked by Brexiteers, Churchill was one of the original and most ardent pro-Europeans.

He saw the horrors of World War II and knew that a European Union was obligatory to preserve peace and stability in Europe.

This has always been the EU’s primary goal, and right now it’s more important than ever, as the security and prosperity that the EU provides are in danger from resurgent fascism here and abroad.

I’m certain that if Churchill was here today, he would be fighting for us to rejoin the EU. Sharon, Manchester

Pope from the US? What’s next – Trump claiming the Vatican?

Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago, USA (Picture: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Now an American, Robert Francis Prevost, has been elected as Pope Leo XIV, will Donald Trump claim the Vatican as the 51st American state? Frank, London

Gerund beef escalates into a full grammar war

I am moved to take issue with Jules and his reference to the use of the gerund, which he says is becoming ‘an endangered species’ (MetroTalk, Thu).

The gerund is an ‘ing’ verb acting as a noun. Thus, of his examples only ‘running on the escalator…’ is a gerund. His ‘this train will not be stopping’ is, in fact, a future continuous tense.

He goes on to say, ‘If you are sitting…’ is incorrect, whereas it is, in fact, the active present continuous tense and so the correct one to use.

His preferred ‘if you are sat’ is informal and to be avoided. ‘You are seated’ is grammatically correct as a passive voice. Nicola, London

Even AI is wading in on the great gerund debate

So, what’s the correct way to tell people not to run on the escalator? (Picture: In Pictures via Getty Images)

After reading Jules’s letter, I received the following from my exchange with AI chatbot Duck.ai.

The phrase ‘running on the escalator is not allowed’ uses the gerund ‘running’ as the subject of the sentence, which is grammatically correct. However, some might argue that it could be more precise or formal to use the infinitive form, such as ‘to run on the escalator is not allowed’.

We need more of this! Jonathan Bagley, Todmorden

Grammar rules or grammar chaos? You decide

Jules has got it the wrong way round. It is exams that ‘are sat’, and seats that ‘are sat in’ or ‘are sat on’.

For passengers, you need the active voice of that verb – they ‘sit’, ‘are sitting’, or ‘have sat’. There is a verb meaning ‘to make someone or something sit’, but that verb is ‘seat’ so an alternative is to use the passive of that – passengers ‘are seated’.

Curiously, people get the difference between the verbs ‘lie’ and ‘lay’ wrong exactly the opposite way. A notable example in this week of military celebration is where instead of ‘lying low’, which means ‘going into hiding’, they say ‘laying low’, which means ‘trouncing’, ‘thoroughly defeating’.

Don’t get me started on ‘fall’ versus ‘fell’. Charles EL Gilman, Mitcham

The first Gerund commenter responds… with jokes

Many thanks for publishing my letter on the gerund as an endangered species in the English language.

Unfortunately, you spotted and corrected the deliberate errors I used to illustrate my point. It should have been ‘stoppin’ and ‘runnin’ (both sic).
Jules Stewart, London

Doctor joke gets a limp response

I’m enjoying the occasional doctor jokes on MetroTalk. Here’s mine.

I limped through the surgery door the other day and the doctor shouted ‘Gout!’ at me. ‘I’ve only just come in,’ I replied. Neil Canning, Stalybridge