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you don't speak good....

so....lately, i've noticed that there are a lot of people who do not use proper grammar. before i go any further, let me say a few things:
1. i do not always know the correct grammar rules. ask my sister. i ask her about things all the time.
2. i understand that no one is perfect.
3. i also understand that sometimes, in certain situations, grammar rules need to be relaxed. maybe to make a point or something (or, for instance, with this blog....i don't use capitals at all and often just put sentences together with some .....).

now, to continue. i've never been one to really notice or complain about this. even if i did notice it, it woudn't necessarily make me cringe or anything....i'd just move on with my day. but goodness gracious. i've seen and heard more mistakes from people who shouldn't be making them over this last month or so. and sadly, most of them have been in a school. by the teachers. although, there was one just today that was definitely cringe-worthy from a non-school related organization.
improper subject-verb agreements.
problems with possession.
combining sentences incorrectly.
pronoun errors.
punctuation difficulties.
and i'll go ahead and add spelling mistakes, even though this is a little different.
and on.
and on.
and on.

my sister has always been a grammar freak. and a grammar lover. in college, she took a grammar course. and she has maintained that there are people in certain career paths who should also take this course.
i now wholeheartedly agree with her.
teachers.
journalists.
motivational speakers.
news people.
politicians.
lawyers.
pastors.
in fact, i now hold the opinion that anyone who is going into a career where they will be speaking, writing, teaching, etc. out among the general public should be required to take this course. or any course in grammar. something. at least so we all know the basics. and some people should be required to know more about grammar than others, based on their career path.

as i said earlier, i understand that sometimes it is ok for grammar rules to be relaxed. like when you are hanging out with your friends. but that is an informal setting. we should be able to change our language and our grammar with our situation. when i'm with my friends, of course i'm going to speak in a way that is different than i would speak when i'm out around people i don't know, or you know...meeting the queen or something. as we learned in our education courses, this is called code-switching. when we match our language (and subsequently, our grammar, to our situation). we have to learn to code-switch.

but mostly, we have to learn the basic rules of grammar. especially teachers. because if we don't know them, how on earth can we expect others to know them when we're supposed to be the ones doing the teaching?

Comments

Lauren said…
I LOVE grammar!

Therefore, I definitely agree with all of the above.

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