Grammar!
21 05 2009In my family, we all attack each other if someone uses grammar incorrectly, so I have been brought up to try my best to be right. However, this usually isn’t the case. I think grammar is a tough concept to grasp because so many of us come from different places where one word is completely acceptable and other words are not. (ex: the word “reckon.” Coming from Franklin, VA we say it ALL the time- and Keith you do too- but in some places people wouldn’t have any idea what you’re talking about)
A lot of my mistakes were words that I didn’t even know were wrong. I have no idea about the differences between “who’s” and “whose” because I never really had to think about it. When you talk, no one can hear if you are making a mistake saying “who’s” or “whose.” I think that’s the problem with today’s society. We are so dependent on spell check and the squiggly lines underneath our sentences in Microsoft Word indicating that they are fragments, that we forgot how to spell and use grammar correctly. Enough of the complaining. Long story short: I am worse at grammar than I really thought I was and by taking these tests I now realize it. And I’m glad I now know!
I know all about words that are used in differnet places. I am from Brunswick and we use the saying “what in the sam-hill?” alot in my family. You spoke about not knowing the difference of words. In spoken language, we take what an individual is saying by the context in which they are saying it. It is like the homophones there, their, and they’re. When one is used in spoken language that sound the same, but we know if the person is saying that is it a place or a possession by the context. In written language is where we use the different spellings. I agree with you on that we are so dependent of spell check. I find myself at times just using it because I want to get the paper done. This may help you with spell check. You can turn it off to know show any errors, forcing you to read the paper over. Microsoft does over options for spell check though. If you go to tools and click on spelling and grammar, a box will appear. On the spelling and grammar tab, there is a button that says settings; click it. If you check all the boxes, the paper is checked thoroughly for things that Word normally does not check for during a normal spell check.
P.S. this is the instructions for how to do it on Word 2003, but it can be done on Word 2007.
I agree with your points. Indeed, there are regional dialects and differences in the way people say things. “You all” versus “y’all” is the classic “Northern” versus “Southern” difference. I remember a guy,very southern, who my mom was dating years ago. He would always say that he was going to “carry” my mother “to town.” I remember thinking that was the strangest thing to say. I got this vision in my head of this man walking down the road literally carrying my mother somewhere. The usual way of saying what he was trying to say is, “I am going to take your mom shopping.” Understanding and using regional dialects is important, and also can be very useful in writing fiction. Some dialects include incorrect grammar; some are just unusual ways of saying things or pronouncing words. However, in scholarly writing, the reader should never “hear” any regional dialect. The reader shouldn’t be able to tell where we are from.
I also agree that many of our grammatical errors come from how we hear things. “Whose” and “who’s” sound exactly alike. So do “read” and “red.” When we hear people talking we often don’t even hear the word correctly, even if it’s spoken correctly. If I say, “I thought she was supposed to be here by now” the word “supposed” blends in with the next word so we might hear “suppose.” That’s why those pesky grammar rules come in handy. For example, if you know that the apostrophe in a word generally signals a contraction and that there are missing letters, when we write “who’s” we know we are writing “who is.” If that’s not correct we can figure it out in the context of our writing. For example, “I’m going to visit my friend, whose mother is sick” wouldn’t make sense if you said, “I’m going to visit my friend, who is mother is sick.” Therefore, you know that “who’s” is wrong; “whose” must be right. However, if you wanted to say, “I am going to visit my friend, who’s a pianist” it makes perfect sense to say “I am going to visit my friend, who is a pianist,” and thus you know that “who’s” is correct.
We indeed have become overly dependent on spell check, but it won’t catch many common errors. My husband wrote an important letter one time and was talking about a person’s “dual” role in an organization, but wrote “duel” (as in a gun fight in the Old West) role. Many people teased him about that. He told me that “spell check should have caught that.” Spell check can’t know what we are trying to say. It has some rules programmed into it, but it can’t think for us.
I also think that we are a much more tv oriented society, so we don’t read as much. When we read a lot, we can see how words should be used in sentences. Also, the internet and texting has completely interfered with good writing. So much of what is written on web sites is grammatically incorrect, misspelled, the whole nine yards. When we text we’re just trying to say things in as few letters as possible. I’ve actually had students write term papers where they used “u” for “you” or “r” for “are.”
I have students who get frustrated with me and tell me I’m too picky about grammar when I grade. However, my response is that in a competitive job market, good writing is what will help distinguish you from others. I know Keith wants to get into law enforcement, where at first glance grammar shouldn’t be that important. BUT often the reports that police officers write are read by lawyers and judges and submitted into cases. Officers who write well in their reports will get recognized over time. I always tell my students who plan to be teachers that nothing undermines parents’ confidence in their child’s teacher than notes or assignments that are grammatically incorrect. I know I’ve thought before with my children’s teachers, “how can he/she grade my son’s writing when he/she can’t even write well.” When my son was going into 7th grade, I went with him to meet his teachers at the opening night orientation. I walked into his English class and the teacher had a suppy list written on the board. It said: “3-Ring Binder, Notebook Paper, Pencils, Red Pin.” A “red pin?” Why would he need a “pin” in English and why did it have to be red? That sounds like a supply for a sewing class, but aren’t most pins silver? I think she meant to say “red pen,” but that’s not what she wrote and for the rest of the school year I wondered how much of my son’s writing she would be able to adequately grade.