"Ms. E", I wish I had 1% of the grammer you have had. I must
have been in the school years a bit after yours, because everything
was supposedly done the new and modern way, which of course
meant that nothing was learned!
There was one exception and that was 5th and 6th grade Catholic
School (which is parochial school, right?). Now those were the
only two grades I ever learned any grammer whatsoever. This
includes 18 years of school. (up to 2 years of grad school).
In college, I was able to get by with 1 term paper. At
the time, I considered it an accomplishment, but now, I have to
admit that it was pretty pathethic.
To complicate things worse, my parents moved around at least
9 out of the first 12 years of schooling, so different dialects/
accents/colloquialisms everywhere I went. And, English was
my parents 2nd language.
I remember 7th grade math in Los Angeles, we had a "new teacher"
with a weird accent. He was from Manhattan.<g> All the
kids were cracking up the first few weeks just listening to
his accent. It was hallarious(sp?). We had never heard anything
like it. The next year, my parents moved to NYC. It stopped
being funny.
Now, the difference between "their" and "they're" is where I would
draw the line. I think most people know the difference. I
consider it a dyslexic problem, since I seem to do it all the
time, and have to catch myself. Have you ever told somebody to
go left, when you meant for the person to go right?
btw...who/what is Katie Gibbs?
I feel guilty for not proofing the above being that I am
on the "SI Grammar and Spelling Lab" thread, but parochial
school taught me that guilt is a much worse vice and it's
getting too late..... |
