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To: fatty who wrote (13279)	8/26/2003 9:04:06 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 306849

There is definitely a change in what is expected from education over time. I had a Grandmother, with the first name of Marion Frances, who graduated from USC in 1919. She found it disconcerting that a college graduate like myself in 1978 could not recite any repertoire of poetry or fine literature from memory. I had apparently spent my time studying economic theory and the mechanics of chemistry, biology and math - essentially a trade school education in her estimation. Even worse the only Latin I had studied was one year in High School. Since the Middle Ages no person could claim to be educated without being able to read and write Latin - which I certainly cannot. Since my time in school a college education has become even more about mastering technology and obviously less about mastering communication in English and other languages. I find the result practical yet almost as disconcerting as Marion did.

To: fatty who wrote (13279)	8/26/2003 10:19:34 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 306849

I don't think either Bush or MS Word can point out anything wrong with that sentence. Perhaps you should turn off the TV when Bush talks and ask Bill Gates for a refund. Bush attended Exeter and Yale, I can assure you he knows proper grammar even if he ditches it in favor of trying to sound like "jus' folks". As for MS Word, what can I say, whomever wrote the grammar checker went to lousy schools. What is terrible isn't that people don't learn proper grammar in school anymore, but they don't really care that they don't learn it. But you can bet that the people who hire them do care very much about the proper use of grammar, especially if that job involves communication on any level. There was used as an adverb in that sentence you wrote. The number of the verb (to be) is taken from the subject, as usual. The subject is "much", which in such a sentence construction, is placed after the verb and is singular. It refers to a quantity (not quantities). You could have written, "There weren't many things (plural) to learn." There was grammar to learn. Which seems correct to you: "there weren't an Indian on the corner" or "there wasn't an Indian on the corner"? There weren't Indians on the corner when I was there. Magna Carta is significant only if you're taking high school history. Perhaps if you understood the significance of the Magna Carta you'd have understood a little more of our discussion about property taxes. You'd know how it is that the governed got the right to protest against confiscatory taxes and to hold their rulers to a written document pertaining to taxes. But alas, you care more about MS Encarta. It is no wonder our best colleges are filling up with students from other countries.