Cranky old English teacher pet peeves
Over the years, I've developed a sort of running list of most common English mistakes that I continually had to correct in my students' papers. Now that I'm retired, I see the same mistakes out there in the public domain - whether in the blogs, or, sadly, in the newspapers.
Since I'm really burned out on politics, and the hummingbirds are gone, what better time to introduce a new, totally-unrelated topic? Most people seem to think that good grammar is a sort of pie-in-the-sky subject anyway.
I must first point out that there are several levels of English, and not all levels are appropriate all the time. Standard English is, of course, at the top of the list, since it's the "most correct." However, in a social or informal situation, Standard English can be pretentious and "high falutin'."
Colloquial English contains many of the regional variations that I personally find charming - like "ya'll" in the South. Colloquialisms give foreigners fits (ah, I used another colloquialism!), because these words don't make literal sense.
Closely related to colloquial English is Idiomatic English, which may really be the same thing. I never realized how colloquial and idiomatic my speech was until I had foreign exchange students in class. Without thinking, I use phrases like "down pat," "crack the window," and "give fits."
Slang consists of the most current words, often belonging to certain groups, such as teenagers. Slang from my mother's era in the 40's, for example, contains such cute phrases as "the cat's pajamas" and "Oh, murder!" My students tried to keep me updated by saying such things as "I got your back, Mrs. D!" I used to keep a little list on my speaker's stand, so I could whip out a current slang term now and then. It always got a laugh!
Aside from all these regional and current variations, I have a list of common irritants:
* alot - This is a spelling mistake. No such word. It's spelled "a lot." Another similar word is "allot," as in "I'm going to allot you a certain amount of time." Though "a lot" is used a lot in conversation, it really isn't acceptable in formal writing. Here again, we have a distinction between "formal" English and "informal" English!
* It's - This is a usage mistake. "It's" is a contraction for "it is." ALWAYS! No exceptions! To write "The dog ate it's bone" is to say "The dog ate it is bone." Forget the possessive apostrophe!
* affect and effect - These two words are NOT interchangeable! "Affect" is a verb; "effect" is usually a noun. I illustrate: "I was greatly affected by his speech." "The speech had a good effect on me." True, you can use "effect" as follows: "The president's policy effected a very great change."
* mischievous - This word causes a double error: Many people misspell it as "mischevious," so they mispronounce it "mis-chee-vee-ous." It is pronounced "mis-chi-vous." Accent on the first syllable. No "e" sound in it.
These are a few of my favorite grammatical goof ups, but I'm sure we can come up with more.
However, when it comes to Blogger English, the grammar has to be pretty bad before I'll take issue with it. After all, blogs are the ultimate "informal English" situation.
From the golden hills of downtown Tillman, Missouri, this is your sometimes grammatically incorrect and always roving rural reporter, Madeline, signing off on a breath-taking Autumn morning!
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The English language has no second-person plural pronoun, which is the problem - so we create our own. There's "You'uns," (which I particularly dislike), "youse" (which is what my middle brother says, having spent his early adulthood in the Baltimore area). Then there's "you all," "you guys"....and that's about all I can think of.
Of all these choices, "ya'll" is by far the best solution, I think!
Ahhhhhhhh....drink in the pure air of GRAMMAR 101! It smell good, don't it????????? Haha!
"Your" and "you're" are two more prickly points!
Also "there," "they're," and "their"! Commonly mixed up!
My oldest son loved to catch mistakes like these, from the time he was small. He loved to laugh at the sign in the local grocery store - "carrot's"! I guess it could be classified as "nerd humor"!!
I don't believe we've had a president with perfect grammar since John F. Kennedy - and he had that colorful Boston accent to boot! If Richard Nixon had shaved more closely, he might have won. I don't recall that his grammar was all that bad.
I can even forgive you for using those semi-colons, when I've told you to leave them alone!!!
"Y'all, sometimes spelled as "Ya'll", "Yawl", or "Yaw", and archaically spelled "You-all", is a fused grammaticalization of the phrase "you all". It is used primarily as a plural second-person pronoun, and less often as a singular second-person pronoun.
"Though the you all contraction argument may make sense when considering current-day vernacular, it is prudent to consider the vernacular which existed at the time which y'all was likely invented. By the late 1700s, Scots-Irish immigrants had settled in the Southern United States. It is well established that Scots-Irish immigrants frequently used the term ye aw. Some evidence suggests that y'all could have evolved from ye aw due to the influence of African slaves who may have adapted the Scots-Irish term.
"The evolution of y'all continues today. There appears to be an increasing tendency, especially on the Internet, to spell it without the apostrophe, yall." (End of Wikipedia quote)
There you have it, Bloggers Extraordinaire! The grammar lesson of the day! Just when you think you know it all, someone comes along with a questioning mind and shows you that you still have A LOT to learn, y'all!
Do you realize how fortunate we are to have a large group of educated, intelligent people capable of giving advice on spelling, grammar, and vocabulary??
We must do it again some time!
Today I met another one of your fans, a young lady who works at Blimpies in Advance. Not only had she read your book, but she read parts of it to her children!
I am so glad that we included your work in the NSC and on these blogs!