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It's National Grammar Day (Not "Its National Grammar Day")
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by jordan | March 4, 2009 at 08:14 am
674 views | 39 Recommendations | 23 comments
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It's National Grammar Day, so celebrate by writing well, speaking accurately, and giving the greengrocer's apostrophe a wedgie.
Today (and every day, really), keep an eye out for synonyms (your/you're, read/red, dye/die), transpositions (thier, flim, intuitoin), and run-on sentences( sentences that should end once the thought is done but do not even though you've now moved on to a different subject such as monkeys that live in tropical forests and crack open gourds with their opposable thumbs, the result of millions of years of evolution, which should be a separate sentence unless you're going for humor, which I am, but notice that I still don't mess up "you're").
My grammar media picks:
Music: Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs (Stephin Merritt is the Neo of songwriting)
Movie: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. are a stellar action/comedy/grammar team)
Television: Deadwood (Al Swearengen drops lots of F-bombs, but can really put a complex sentence together)
What do you do on National Grammar Day? According to the SPOGG website, "Speak well! Write well! And on March 4, march forth and spread the word. We want people to think about language and how it can be used best." If that isn't enough to capture your interest you can also make a Grammartini (the recipe is on the website) and laugh at the winner of the SPOGG Award for the Worst Grammar in the United States (the city of Columbia, South Carolina).
The winner of the hotly-contested Worst Grammar Award is President George Bush.
National Grammar Day's website has more detail (though you probably get the idea), including recipes, though the Grammartini looks a lot like the bog-standard martini... not that there's anything wrong with that.
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jordan
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Recommendations (39)
Fripouille
Lyon, France
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Fred Miller
Friendswood, Texas, United States
Roy C
Vancouver, Washington, United States
Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
Maireid Sullivan
Melbourne, Australia
Pythiian1
New York, New York, United States
sara star
Halifax, NS, Canada
Blue Crush
Toronto, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (23)
at 08:20 on March 4th, 2009
Oh, My! I had no idea that such day even existed.
at 11:39 on March 4th, 2009
I also had no idea, until today...
at 09:23 on March 4th, 2009
Hooray ! I'm going out to celebrate, but should I ? Is this the voice of one crying in the wilderness ?
at 09:31 on March 4th, 2009
Pet peeve: all the people who say "my wife and I" when the object form is called for.
Amazing how many people do this.
Second pet peeve: all the people who say 'I feel badly". This is absolutely incorrect. "I feel bad" is correct. Feel is a linking verb and the statement links an adjective to the subject.
Third pet peeve: all this use of continuous when the present perfect is called for or the simple present.
There is no such thing as "I am wanting". You either want or you don't want. You love or like or not. You are way off to say " I was loving it", etc.
"The Supreme Court is saying"- not if they have made the decision. Then it is 'The Supreme Court has said, ruled, etc." Journalists do this all the time.
I taught ESL and that is a great way to learn the grammar that you didn't know existed.
English is a language that permits a person to pick up grammar unconsciously in the context of a statement.
When you teach ESL, suddenly you realize (teaching that particular lesson) that there are times when you say "going to do" as opposed to "will do", or that, if something happens once successfully, you already say, "was able to", and never use the verb could.
Strictly speaking, English has only a present and past tense, no real future tense.
We do have subjunctive, contrary to the notions of many of my students, but we use the simple past to express it.
In Italian, "I could go if I had money" vs "I could play tennis well when I was young" vs "If I could go, I would leave now", are all different forms of could.
at 10:25 on March 4th, 2009
Good, Roy. Now go brush up on your Engrish because it looks like it's here to stay !
at 12:52 on March 4th, 2009
English is one of the most adaptable languages in the world. I heartily approve of "Engrish". I see it every day as I drive through the section with the Asian restaurants.
My mother was an immigrant (Austro-Hungarian from Serbia) and I was raised around a ton of accents, with people from Russia, Poland, Ireland, Cuba and Puerto Rico, and I went to school with the WASPs from the Main Line, some of whom still carry the traces of upper class English pronunciation.
at 05:54 on March 5th, 2009
Ah - making fun of Asian people, that's rich!
at 11:56 on March 4th, 2009
Hi Roy!
That's an interesting comment. I teach english too, here in France. French is a very strictly controlled language in terms of grammar. There is even a government-funded body (L'Académie Française) that defines what's 'right' and what's 'wrong' in grammar and vocabulary use.
English has no such controlling body. There isn't even an "official" dictionary! That means that what's right and wrong are more difficult to define when organic change occurs.
I don't use "I'm loving this" because "love" is a state verb. State verbs are normally used in the simple tense and they can't be put into the continuous mode in most cases, as in "I'm believing in you". Exceptions include "think" as in have an opinion or reflection. But more and more Americans do, and maybe one day it will integrate itself into what is "correct".
The Americans also say "did you eat yet?" which is incorrect in english english ("Have you eaten yet?"). Who's right? Both. Use makes rule in english.
That's why I tell my students that French is a "Windows" language" and can't be changed or added to except by the administrators, whereas english is a "Linux" language because it accepts user input. If it's used, it becomes accepted over time.
And that means that many of the opinions that we may hold on a particular issue are subjective, or purist versus progressist debate. Both are right. Can "and" be used at the beginning of a sentence, for example? That depends on one's point of view. Some grammarians say yes, others say no.
I love teaching the future. It is all about "aspects" and is not a tense, as you point out. The French (Cartesians) find it very difficult.
Truth is mah friend, there aint no truth! :)
at 12:31 on March 4th, 2009
After all those years of teaching ESL, I cannot stand to let myself say, "Did you do it yet?"
Once you really get what is right and why it is right, you want to respect the language and say what is right.
The other thing we Americans get wrong is the "if I would go", when it is only correct to say, "if I went, then I would do.."
I learned to speak Italian that was pretty grammatically correct, but after only two years I began to hear the Italians' own errors.
I enjoyed reading the history of the English language, a remarkable story,. In the "real Robin Hood", Robin Hood would speak a kind of German, "Anglisch", while the Normans, Danes who spoke French would be after him.
We, you and me and other educated people without money, would be the inermediaries in all this and we would be the ones who forged English out of those two languages.
at 10:38 on March 4th, 2009
transpositions (thier, flim, intuitoin), and run-on sentences( sentences that should
A transpostions never a grammatical error innit. But a typo's always a typo ;^)
at 11:42 on March 4th, 2009
You're right, actually, but, since transpositions are a pet peeve of mine, I felt compelled to include them.
Shouldn't it be "A transposition's never a grammatical error, innit?"? Then again, when using "innit", all bets are off. Same with "dunnit", naturally.
(* I transpose nearly every time I type)
at 11:41 on March 4th, 2009
Thanks for this, Jordan! Two of my pet peeves are people who use, for example, "your" for "you are or you're" and an additional "'s" on the end of a word or surname that ends in "s", for example Mangus's pet peeves instead of Mangus' pet peeves:)!
at 11:44 on March 4th, 2009
I don't like additional S either Rhonda, but apparently it's acceptable to use it now so long as you are consistent in its use. I'm with you (I think we're old school!) but the rules have changed, it seems.
at 17:10 on March 4th, 2009
Definitely 'old school':). It is acceptable, but that doesn't mean I [we] have to accept it. It's a matter of 'House Style'.
at 06:16 on March 5th, 2009
Oh no, I ain't acceptin nothin! NOTHIN I tells ya! ;)
at 12:28 on March 4th, 2009
Great post! I'm a nitpicker, but only in my head ... we have to remember that people whose/who's first language is NOT English write too.
I think the word I have the most trouble with is complement and compliment.
at 12:35 on March 4th, 2009
It's a good thing we have spell check on NP, if people bother to use it.
at 12:36 on March 4th, 2009
If the USA doesn't have an official language, then it is OK for Bush to have bad grammar.
at 15:47 on March 4th, 2009
Interesting article, but I have to point out that your/you're, read/red, and dye/die are NOT synonyms. They are homophones, words that sound the same. Synonyms are words that mean the same such as sincere and genuine.
I am vaguely shocked that no one yet has picked up on this.
at 17:51 on March 4th, 2009
Correct.
at 18:13 on March 4th, 2009
Nice piece, Jordan.
at 18:57 on March 4th, 2009
Amazing! The most discussed article of the day is the one of National Grammar Day! Aint't it grand!
at 00:35 on March 6th, 2009
Yes, English is an evolving language, so that tempers my immediate reaction to American expressions, such as "I'm doing good". But, when I see "separate" spelled "seperate" I know the person simply wasn't paying attention in grammar school.
Re. And, or But, – I thought the film Finding Forester dealt with that beautifully.
Of course, the BBC History of the English Language series was fantastic.
Variations in English and American punctuation are awkward to follow too.
I excuse myself for using dashes– because James Joyce did it all the time, and I like the sense of flow they give to a sentence.
I enjoyed this discussion.
Thanks for posting, Jordan.