Comments on: Intense and Intents and Intensive Purposes

By: Lynn M

Lynn M — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:38:04 +0000

Yes, you’re OK!

I struggle with this all the time. It is hard to hear (or read) someone use grammar improperly. I guess it is like listening to someone hitting the wrong note in a song you know well. It is hard to be perfect all the time though. Often I find a typo (and typing thoughts too fast) can make me look like I don’t “know my stuff.” So, it’s better to keep criticism of others to a minimum.

I can only imagine how difficult it is for your grandmother to relate to today’s society!

I grew up in a few different places: NY, NJ, and FL. I’ve heard plenty of “ya’lls” and “youz.” I can see you cringing now at “youz” Alexa, but they are both attempting to achieve the same thing…make the already plural “you” plural.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:11:47 +0000

Lynn–

So I’m okay then? And I can stop going back and forth between being annoyed by people who get the obvious stuff wrong (“obvious” being the rules I actually have nailed down), and worrying that I no doubt screw up my grammar and punctuation every day on a higher education blog?

I don’t say “ain’t” (Lynn…), but my husband grew up in Atlanta and went to college in North Carolina, and I’ve found “y’all” to be a really useful word. My grandmother visibly shudders when I say it in front of her (she’s an unabashed corrector of other people’s grammar). She taught me all about every piece of silverware that might ever grace a table, as well as the importance (it’s more important than almost anything) of writing thank-you notes. The only instances when it’s okay to skip the thank-you notes is if you’re in a coma or you’re dead.

Take care,

Alexa

By: Lynn M

Lynn M — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:07:37 +0000

Alexa,
As someone who was an English major I’ve run across the same thing and can totally relate to how long it took you to “get” affect and effect. Sometimes you’ll even find that using English correctly will make you sound strange and wrong. How many people write “I wish I was…” when anytime you are using “wish” it has to be “were.” Same with “If I was…” no, it has to be “if I were!” Not only that but look where my punctuation ends….inside those quotes. That’s how it is suppose to be, but how many people do it? Many people use “less” when they should be using “fewer” or say “because of” when “of” is actually repetitious. In the end, I think you have to decide when it really matters. Most of the time it does not and to go around correcting people or labeling people as uneducated or as non-readers is pompous. The children’s series “A Series of Unfortunate Events” really does a great job showing the absurdity of it all with the character of Aunt Josephine in “The Wide Window.” She says, “Grammar is the greatest joy in life, don’t you find?” She’s a woman who is scared of everything in life but knows her grammar and is ready to correct anyone who uses it incorrectly. In the end, correcting the villian’s grammar is her undoing…but I won’t give it all away. The point is, no matter how much we know, we only show how much we DON’T know by placing ourselves above others.
Ain’t it the truth?