Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:56:38 PM
Every once in a while I discover I am not the only one so obsessed with the decline in grammar and spelling.
Recently I found
this page, which delighted me with a grumpy discussion of the misuse of both apostrophes and quotation marks. I admit to sometimes abusing the quotation mark, but this site convinced me I am a rank amateur in the realm of punctuation abuse.
From this site I also found
this cartoon and one of those rare instances where Dave Barry made me smile:
Dear Mister Language Person: What is the purpose of the apostrophe?
Answer: The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business
signs to alert the reader than an "S" is coming up at the end of a
word, as in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
ANY ITEM'S. Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when
creating hand- lettered small-business signs is that you should put
quotation marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT
DOG'S, or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S.
-- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"
For those waiting for some political point, there is none. I am just happy after writing not
one, not
two, but
three essays on spelling and grammar, as well as
another post defending my emphasis on grammar, that at least a few other cranky individuals agree with me.
UPDATE 04/30/2008
I followed another link and found the
most amusing punctuation curmudgeon site ever! If you aren't the sort who feels excitement at the thought of another site chronicling the misuse of apostrophes (and who, other than me, really does?), you should still check out
this one, as it is just funny.
UPDATE PART 2
It gets even better. The owner of the site I mentioned in the update above, gave the
following reply to a politician seeking votes:
Thank you for your prompt reply to my letter. I have decided to email a reply to you in
order to save time.
You may be pleased to hear that your apostrophe error did not cause me any distress.
Unfortunately, I think it did make you look ill-educated. I do not accept your points that
this is a particularly common error and that this aspect of the English language is confusing.
However, I was lucky. At the age of seven, a very nice man stood in front of me
and my school mates, and taught us how to use the apostrophe. It took a single thirty minute
lesson and I have never had any doubts about apostrophe use since.
It is a matter of no small concern to me that your support for teaching punctuation
comes with a proviso that it should be held until "an appropriate point in a
pupil's progression". In my opinion, part of the rot in our present-day education system
is caused by large sections of the teaching profession attempting to avoid laying down
the fundamental rules of their subject too early for fear of alienating the class. What is
the point of an education system that will not teach? Are we not selling our children
short by letting them make mistakes without correction? Surely children work better when
rules are presented for them to follow?
I am also a little concerned about what you mean by classroom assistants. If a classroom
assistant's role is to provide extra manpower to help teach children, why can you not
recruit more teachers?
I think education is very important. I'm not sure, however, that the Liberal Democrats'
policies will impact on the core problems within education.
I must say I am impressed with the statements above. Holding students to standards, teaching them rules from the beginning, who would ahve thought I would be both shocked and delighted to hear such sentiments, they seem so obvious, yet they are so rarely put forth.
Back to mining
Apostrophell for more quotes. I may have found my new favorite site. It's a shame it hasn't been updated in nearly two years.
On the other hand, by supplying that quote I suddenly turned this from an off topic, indulgent post into a political, and thus on point, article. Hurrah!
I can't believe it, but I missed an opportunity to promote one of my older articles, especially one of my many on writing and grammar which no one seems to read. So, in the interest of pushing my slow moving inventory, I will add that I wrote yet another essay on spelling "
Why Spelling Matters (Again)".