And we wonder why people can't spell (another grammar rant)

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Jen, reading that made me die a little inside. You'll be happy to know that my students have been drilled in the uses of the apostrophe and are actually glad to know exactly how to use it!
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(It's really, really not that hard... I have a thread around here with my apostrophe lesson in it...it takes five minutes).
 
Folks, when all of us entered first grade we already knew 95% of English grammar. Really and truly! Some of us spent twelve years trying to learn the other 5%, and some of us spent many, many years learning the finer details; however, most people didn't give a rat's tail and feel lucky that they didn't die of boredom in English class. None of us ever learned the whole 5% because they keep moving home base. Just because someone was overly-interested and actually learned maybe one percent of the remaining five percent, so what? Even those who learned, say, 4.5% of the remaining 5% can never be too sure about the fine lines because ALL languages change DAILY, i.e., NOBODY can stay up.
Depending on your interest in language and what you need to know about it, be content and happy. Remember, when someone says, "You know what I mean," they're right.
 
I agree JennsPeeps. But, I enjoyed English class both literature and composition. We had a teacher in 7th grade that made us memorize practically all of Strunk and White. You will know that one. We even had to diagram sentences which I am sure no one does anymore. Sure made one aware of participles that dangled and verb tenses that didn't agree. As you can tell I graduated before the mid 60s.
 
I graduated in 1992 but believe that language reflects a culture's values. When we get sloppy with language, our cultural identity gets sloppy. I'm not saying that influence and change is bad. Rather, my point is that when society's caretakers - in this situation, the town council - start altering language because it's inconvenient, that's an injustice to the thousands of people who will see and mis-learn the altered grammar or spelling.

Don't get me started on false alliteration, like "Kids' Korner".
 

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