Your in university now, theirfore its important that you're writing looks the part.
Call me a stickler, call me an a-hole (the number who have are legion), but when I am reading and come across a grammatical mistake, it propels me into a state of near-homicidal rage. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but simple errors in grammar and spelling do cause me to not only doubt the writer, but, to some small degree, the veracity of what s/he is saying.
Perhaps now some of you are saying (with a smug look), "I make mistakes because it's part of my style and my titillating picadillos add a unique flavor/colloquialism/patois to what would otherwise be a dry, monotone the-quick-fox-jumped-over-the-lazy-dog routine." Fine. Good for you. Clearly, you are a-ok in my book as you have equipped yourself with the necessary tools every writer should have in her belt and are now improvising. As a matter of fact, you can just stop reading now. Make your obligatory comment so Kathy and Amanda give you your gold star and go finish watching that "The Walking Dead" episode. When you see me in class tomorrow, catch my eye and wink while tapping the side of your nose with an index finger--I'm picking up what you're laying down.
However, if you don't know the difference between a contraction and a possessive pronoun (you're vs. your) or don't know which types of nouns get capitalized (proper), then you need to step up and put in a little time. Look, I am not saying that everybody should know, necessarily, what an 'intransitive verb' is (it can't hurt), but at the very least, familiarize yourself with the different parts of speech.
For more reasons why good grammar is your friend--see that? the gift that keeps on giving--check out this article by Melissa Donovan.
Roman /your/ hilarious. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh I see what you did there, Emily; the grammar, the emoticon--gold.
DeleteI bookmarked the link for the different parts of speech. It's invaluable. I will definitely be using that website as a reference! Great find, Roman. Once again I had to get myself a dictionary while reading your work. By the end of this semester you are going to double my vocabulary. :)
ReplyDeleteZara,
DeleteI appreciate your comment and am glad that you were able to take away something from the post (other than a chuckle).
Grateful to be in your group,
Roman
I wish public school boards in New Brunswick would read your post and put the parts of speech and proper grammar lessons that goes beyond "this is the period" back into the English curriculum. I can't tell you how many people in my high school didn't know what a pronoun was or what a semi-colon looked like.
ReplyDeleteI know, Cindy, and it breaks my heart.
DeleteI did try to wrap the post in a bit of humor, but the message is serious: we can practically see the younger generations' command of the language crumble before our eyes.
I can't agree more. While some cases I can let it slip, like the once every now and then spelling error, or maybe the incorrect insertion of a comma, but there are other times where I just want to beat someone down with a dictionary. An example of something I can simply shrug off the first time, misspelling the word 'definitely' as 'definetly.' Something I can't overlook though, is when 'ppl spell lyke dis.' It drives me up the wall. Whenever I can though, I give them the benefit of the doubt and say nothing. That doesn't mean that I'm not bothered by mistakes though. Some things that I can enjoy reading are sentence fragments when used to an effect to draw more emotion. They may not be grammatically correct, but they can really put the 'oomph' into a message if done right.
ReplyDelete