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Actually, some of those examples are mild compared to some of the things I’ve heard. No differentiation between singular and plural, split infinitives, misplaced modifier, constant use of double negatives, etc. People too lazy to even pronounce syllables; real low class. Even certain celebrities using very poor grammar. My understanding is that if teachers correct a students English, it’s even considered racist, as in an attack against a certain culture.
You can perceive syllables in English, but we don't pronounce in syllables like Spanish speakers would. English is a stress-timed language, which is why every syllable doesn't need to be stressed.
It bothers me on CD when I cannot comprehend what the person is trying to say due to poor grammar.
It also bothers me to read poor grammar in print, as in something that should have been proofread. I keep thinking that the more the younger readers see the poor grammar, the more they still imitate it because they'll think it's correct.
Yesterday I read that some first select woman in another state was fined for not quarantining when she returned from out of state. She said something like, "The state fined my husband and I $1000." ME ME ME ME ME
My son mastered in English. He corrects verbally and thru written assignments. That is his job.
His nature is also to correct speech.
The only person who gets a free pass is myself. He knows NOT to disrespect my being in public. Though he will kindly say Mom, you may want to refer to Webster on that pronunciation. And Lo and behold when I do, we get into a nice discussion on its etymology.
I retired as an English teacher a year ago. I always corrected written grammar, but rarely did I correct spoken grammar. Spoken grammar is much more casual than written grammar. We naturally speak in sentence fragments, for example. Technically,there is a rule for first person shall/will that no one observes. Forget the rule on ending sentences with prepositions. As Winston Churchill famously said, "This is a rule up with which I will not put."
By the way, the contraction ain't was the contraction for "am not.". It got so misused that it became substandard, but its substitution, aren't I , isn't grammatically correct either.
I corrected students' oral grammar for the worst of things like ain't because it would brand them as illiterate. The rest I corrected in written form.
Back when I was a kid in elementary school the old teachers corrected us frequently. The kids learned to avoid them or stay silent when in their presence. They seemed to communicate to the kids in this that their speech wasn't "suitable" for them to be speaking with others. At least from the perspective of grammar when they spoke with their peer's in the halls or on the playground. We frequently heard the same teachers explaining to us in class that kids shouldn't correct other adults or parents mistakes when they spoke. Wonder why ? Could it have been that the kids began to practice this manner at home which they learned at school and parents wrote some indignant letters to the Principal regarding it ?
By the time I was in college I ran into one of my old teachers who was retired by that time. She was one of the more overbearing ones. She explained to me how unappreciated she felt and hoped things would change for teachers in the future. I listened silently while wishing I had a copy of Dale Carnegie to hand her and explain how it could have been a solution.
Fast forward to internet message boards. There have been numerous message board where "grammarians", who have relatively little to contribute, will seize on the slightest infractions in the theme and form of other members. Some of these "jewels" even do this to bully or troll.
In the end are you on a message board to read, learn, and share ? Or to grade & correct the compositions of others. If so do you naively believe message boards were created to be "English Honors Classes" ?
I would offer any teacher here to copy this post and share it in future teachers meetings when "methods" are discussed.
Last edited by Jewel City Joe; 10-25-2020 at 02:21 AM..
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