DO YOU GET IT?

DON'T HAVE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS!

GRAMMAR LESSON

 

Today's post is not about dachshunds, but about grammar and usage.  As an English teacher, these errors are some that drive me crazy.  So, here ya go:  print it out and tape it to your computer screen.  Voila!  Instant grammar (or at least it's a start :).

 

 

 

GRAMMAR NAZIS, UNITE!

The three little words, THERE, THEIR, THEY'RE, are probably abused as much (or more) than any other words in the English language--I see them used incorrectly on a regular basis, along with scores of other errors.  A friend on Facebook sent me the cartoon because I am . . . well, a self-described Grammar Nazi.  I am proud to be a Grammar Nazi.  After all, somebody has to do it!  We have to root out illiteracy and shoddy syntax wherever we can, right?  

When I've marked such errors on writing assignments over the years, some of my English students have flippantly retorted, "So what?  Who cares?  It's no big deal!"  Well, my dear misspellers, such errors are a big deal to prospective employers who seek to hire, even for entry-level positions.  When weeding out applications before tossing those that are poorly written, such people want applicants who pay attention to detail.  They reason that if an applicant cannot complete a job application with at least decent conventions (spelling, sentence structure, usage, etc.), then said applicant will not be hired where such skills are expected--or required.  For example, a business letter with this kind of error turns off prospective clients, because a company or business is judged as competent or not by its written words.  Attention to detail can make a big difference in business growth.

There, their, they're--you'll find another job--maybe.

I'm a Grammar Nazi, Part Two

As I stated in an earlier post, unnecessary grammatical errors drive me nuts.  When our youngest daughter was married, one of the newspapers where we ran her wedding article had so many typos that we were embarrassed to even send copies to friends and family!  Apparently, that small-town paper saved money on hiring copy editors or skipped the proofreading step altogether (not even bothering to use spell check). 

A few years later, I taught high school journalism, and one of my classroom exercises was to bring in copies of newspapers to give students the opportunity of proofreading some of the articles (good experience to encourage them to proofread their own articles).  I included that wedding article, and my students were amazed to find so many errors.  This exercise drove home to them the necessity of proofreading essays, reports, and yes--even newspaper articles--before turning them over for grading or publication.

Below are more of my "favorite" grammar pet peeves:

• failing to capitalize "English" (or another language) - C'mon, people!  We all know this one, so let's capitalize language names:  French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.  Former students write to me:  "You were my favorite english teacher."  Obviously, I didn't teach them much, did I?
• Using an apostrophe with plurals - "I enjoy reading magazine's."  The apostrophe indicates possessive, not plural, with nouns.  Correct:  "I enjoy reading magazines."  Our oldest daughter used to live in rural TN, and a flea market had this hand-lettered sign out front beside the road:  "We sell doll,s, gun,s, and lot,s of other things."  Using a comma for plurals is even worse than an apostrophe!  NOTE:  Another quirk in English grammar is that an apostrope is NOT used with possessive pronouns:  hers, his, theirs, ours, etc.  NEVER write her's, their's, our's.
• Your/you're, and your's - These first two, your/you're, are not supposed to be used interchangeably.  "Your" is a possessive:  That is your book.  "You're" is a contraction of "you are":  I believe you're the person who won the contest.  As for your's, please see the previous entry.

I will post more from time to time.  I invite readers to send their grammar pet peeves by commenting below.  I'd be greatly interested in them.