Grammar
My day was almost ruined on Friday when I returned from skiing at Hatcher Pass and sat down to read my email from the day. (Almost-- luckily I'm pretty resiliently in a good mood.) It wasn't because there was any depressing news, rather it was because of the depressing grammar. Misplaced apostrophes and misused homophones abounded. Those were only some of the more flagrant errors that accosted me. There was one atrocious newsletter that I received. I'm sure it had good content but I haven't a clue what that content was because the grammatical errors distracted me from actually reading the newsletter. The only thing I really remember, and I remember it like a scene of carnage that you didn't want to see in the first place but still can't get out of your mind, is this: "make sure your kids ski's are in good condition." It's enough to make me cry.
I'm not speaking from a holier-than-thou perspective: my written grammar isn't perfect. My spoken grammar is worse. When I speak I end sentences with prepositions and when I write I tend to often split infinitives. (you're not laughing at my joke?) If I were to start my own club it would probably be "Jocks Against Grammatical Abuse". JAGA for short, and I'd pronounce it with a soft "j".
I'm not speaking from a holier-than-thou perspective: my written grammar isn't perfect. My spoken grammar is worse. When I speak I end sentences with prepositions and when I write I tend to often split infinitives. (you're not laughing at my joke?) If I were to start my own club it would probably be "Jocks Against Grammatical Abuse". JAGA for short, and I'd pronounce it with a soft "j".
posted by LAV at 20:17
10 Comments:
Would a soft j be like the Z in Zaza Gabor?
As long as you are discussing grammar, please consider the verb "lead" as in "He leads me beside still waters." If you want to refer to the past, it needs to be "He LED me beside still waters," not "He LEAD me beside still waters." Nuff said.
Mishandled possessive's get my goat.
j pronounced like a "y" which maybe I should not have called a soft j.
Thanks Granny, I know I've made that mistake a lot. Keep pointing it out (but hopefully you won't have to).
anon- you're making me cringe.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the grammar rant! While I self categorize as "not grammatically perfect," I still care. Here's an article you might like on quotes and the placement of the period. Although I don't like Mr. Safire otherwise, his weekly column is usually a fun read.
-Beth
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DB173BF932A35750C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
thanks for the link Beth. It was an entertaining article. Punctuation & quotations is something I haven't really gotten finalized in my mind yet.
"At the same time, though, I have no patience with those ignorant and silly beliefs about good English that have bedeviled us for so long. Such fetishes as insisting on it's I , not ending sentences with prepositions, and avoiding split infinitives are all dismissed as the nonsense they are."
from the introduction to R.L. Trask's wonderful Mind the Gaffe (which I highly recommend).
Grammar has never been this entertaining.
ApostropheAbuse.com will probably drive you crazy, then.
colin r- I'm still twitching in agony from reading apostropheabuse.com. save me!
Knut-Eric, I might have to ask for Mind the Gaffe for Christmas. Although I'm not sure I can handle it challenging my cherished grammatical beliefs.
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