Read the following article about grammar. Then respond to my questions to you, which you'll find at the end of the article. You'll have to read the article first, though.
DALLAS -- A cup of regualar coffee sounds like the perfect way to start your day. Wouldn’t some cheep gas be nice? But if you park your car, you’ve been warned: No in-and-out priviliges. These mangled spellings — on real-life signs around the Dallas-Fort Worth area — underline the obvious: Spelling isn’t always high on our list. And our grammar ain’t that good, to.
It’s enough to make your English teacher cringe — and drive others to break the law. Last month, two men were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year after getting busted for fixing errors on a sign in Grand Canyon National Park. The men travel the country correcting signs as part of the Typo Eradication Advancement League. And, yeah, they might have crossed the line by messing with a historical sign in a national park, but they’ve got a point.
Across the country, our land is littered with signs, posters, ads, menus — you name it — that are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. In some cases, human spell-checkers battle these boo-boos by fixing the errors on their own. Others snap pictures and trash the typos on their blogs.
GRAMMAR ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL?
Grammarians say these are bad signs of the times — our language is on a downward spiral. Correct spelling and proper grammar matter and help us understand each other, said Martha Brockenbrough, who founded the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. “There are rules for how you play football and there are rules for how you drive,” she said. “Standards of football keep things interesting, fair and fun. I think they do the same for language.”
Sign offenders abound around Dallas-Fort Worth. Hungry and in a hurry? A fast-food restaurant sign showcased a deal for "10 pieses of chicken." A Knox-Henderson restaurant is “Now Open for LUNCH FRIDAY’S” (drop the apostrophe, guys). Want a bargain? You can get it at the Bargin City Bazaar in Oak Cliff. How about this twisted apology at a toy store: “We apologise for the inconveinance.” A mural on the side of a building at the Preston Royal shopping center shows what appears to be a movie theater with a sign that says: “ Premier Tonight.”
Misspelled words and names slip into newspapers and television news graphics every day. An Associated Press story described Joe Lieberman as the 2000 Democratic vice presidential ... well, let’s just say that it was quickly changed to “pick.”
Different groups have different ways of handling the more permanent typos and misspellings, without breaking the law. Brockenbrough’s Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar takes the polite route, sending out friendly letters to offenders encouraging them to make corrections. “It’s not about shame and humiliation,” said Brockenbrough of Seattle, who launched National Grammar Day this year.
TEXTING CONTRIBUTES TO DOWNFALL OF GRAMMAR?
Some also say that students’ text messaging and Twittering — which encourage short notes and abbreviations and spelling-be-damned — are seeping into formal writing. Students are writing informally now more than ever, said Diana Grumbles, director of the First-Year Writing Program at Southern Methodist University. Some of her students don’t capitalize or use punctuation when they send her a quick e-mail. Some will submit in-class writing assignments with symbols. “I always just circle these things and tell them at the end of the paper that they have to write the words out,” Grumbles said. “This is not a quick note dashed off to a friend.”
Then there are these gems collected by Grumbles and her colleagues:
• “There is nothing wrong with my writing, maybe it is her that doesn’t know what she is doing,” one student wrote.
• “After writing numerous papers I feel I have improved existentially,” another student wrote.
• One student meant to say “ludicrous,” but instead wrote “Ludacris,” the rapper.
• And in another paper: “He should not have taken that for granite.”
ACCEPT THE ERRORS?
A university lecturer in England says teachers should accept their students’ errors — Febuary instead of February or speach instead of speech. “Either we go on beating ourselves and our students up over this problem, or we simply give everyone a break,” Ken Smith wrote last month in the Times Higher Education Supplement.
Grumbles isn’t willing to cut her students that much slack. “Certain standards need to stay in place,” she said. But even Brockenbrough admits that there are times when bad grammar or spelling is a good thing. The song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” sounds a lot better than “I Cannot Receive Any Satisfaction,” she said.
Ultimately, to what extent should we care about standard grammar and spelling? How important is it? Is it better to maintain the rules we have, or should we let them go, as long as people understand one another? Post your response.
In your posting, please make sure to respond to the most intriguing argument put forward by one of your peers.
Also, just for the sake of argument, you must use proper grammar. Any response that doesn't will only earn half-credit.
23 comments:
Since I'm apparently the first one to post, I cannot really argue against any peers. I do have to say, however, that Diana Grumbles makes a good point in promoting good grammar skills. However, I think she is a bit of an extremist. Texting and short e-mails with improper grammar does not harm anyone. It's just a way of making things work faster. I understand that this should not be case for formal papers or even media. Especially media, since it could lead to misunderstanding and malcommunition. Like many have said, it doesn't matter how good your ideas are if you cannot state them correctly. So, in a sense, encouraging proper grammar is adequate and okay when not being done in an extreme way, as it was the case of the two men of the Typo Eradiction Advancement League. Again, everything is good with moderation.
-Ana
OOpps, I posted in the wrong blog. I guess you can say it's always good to read everything fully, too.
I agree with Ken Smith, we deserve a break. In my opinion Grammar shouldn’t be considered a huge issue. I feel that the problem shouldn’t be pressed because it is now world wide. It is too far gone to even try to correct it. Over the years, many have lost touch with the proper rules of grammar and this makes it harder to pass on information. Also, if you didn’t learn it when you were younger, when you get older it is way harder to remember and learn these rules. I feel that as long as you can understand what the other person is saying, it should not matter. Of the other issues adressed in this article, I believe the only one with true importance is spelling. It is very important to know how to spell. You can completely change the meaning of a sentence by spelling the word incorrectly. But, I don’t think knowing where to put a comma is necessary because, with out it you would still be able to understand what the person is talking about.
After reading Candace‘s response, I have to disagree with her. Although I am guilty of making grammatical errors from time to time, I find myself agreeing with Diana Grumbles. Grammatical errors should be fixed. If they are a problem now, they will definitely be a problem later on in life, such as in college, work, etc. We should care about standard grammar and spelling to a full extent. It is very important to maintain the rules of standard spelling and grammar, because small grammatical errors can lead to bigger grammatical errors if they aren’t fixed soon enough. It is important to maintain the rules we have for grammar, because even though some people may understand things when they aren’t grammatically correct, others can misinterpret them. By urging everyone to go by the rules we have for grammar, this will lessen the misunderstanding of texts, letters, notes, signs, etc. For example, if a store selling shoes had a sign saying “Shows Here” instead of “Shoes Here”, that would be a problem.
I agree with Martha Brockenbrough's view on grammar. Correct spelling and proper grammar matter and truly do help us understand each other. I feel grammar is important but it is understandable when people make mistakes. I don't believe people should be penalized for making small grammatical errors.
Although I don't fully agree with Candace's opinion that grammar is not that important, I strongly agree with her view on spelling being VERY IMPORTANT. If letters are placed in the wrong order, the word completely loses its meaning. While with grammar, when speaking or writing to people, I believe that they can manage to understand what you are trying to say considering the fact that you will be speaking the same language as them. If you are speaking another language, there will most likely be bigger misunderstandings with concern to spelling.
Hi its Dominika.
I agree with Jasmin and ro ro, and with Martha Brockenbrough. I will always be the first to admit that commas, conjunctions, and all the other aspects of grammar can sometimes be the biggest pain in our necks, but that doesn't give us the right to dismiss our abuse to it. When we misuse grammar and spelling we make ourselves and race look like idiots. We have been lucky enough to be the only race on earth to posses a solid way to communicate with one another, by using language, and here we are too lazy to use it correctly. It really is not that hard. If we continue to disregard the structure of our language we'll lose it. Ironically, its as if grammatically, we're evolving backwards.
Grammar does matter in the world because it's what keeps nations and civilizations from sounding completely idiotic. Although, I do have to agree with the idea that sometimes it's okay to use incorrect grammar (I.E.I Can't Get No [Satisfaction)).
Words are a form of expression that can do so many wonderful things when put to good use. Not only does it cause a nation to appear uniform, it can also express a culture (I.E.texting lingo). The youth, as well as the rest of the world, should learn to differ when to use the correct grammar and when to use the not so correct grammar. Its simple, just as we know how to talk to certain adults; we wouldn't talk the same way to our friends.
I have to dissagree with Candace. Her view on students learning grammar rules at a late age and it being harder to remember now can't really suffice, because if that was the case you can easily say, "since we didn't learn the correct structure and rules to analyze a novel at an early age, we can't learn it now."
This reminds me of a song from the musical "My Fair Lady" entitled 'Why Can't The English?".
(Of coarse it's in regards to articulation and accents more or so then grammar but still can be connected)
"Why can't the english learn to
set a good example
to people's who's english is painful to your ears
the Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears
there are even places where english completely disappears
why in America they haven't used it in years"
-Jon
-Justyna
After reading what Candace has to say, I have to disagree with her opinion. Both spelling and grammar is important in writing. Like we've often mentioned in class, these two elements also reveal the type of person you are. In regards to the question to what extent we should care about grammar, I feel that we should care to write properly. This rule should apply to mainly school papers and related text. Things like texting and emials shouldn't be looked at so strictly because as one of the first bloggers said, we use certain shortcuts to make the writing go faster with getting the message across either way. We only need to remember to not transfer it to everyday formal wrtitng. We should stick to the rules to not make ourselves look uneducated because there is a reason why we go to school right? One of the first things we learn are sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar. We should apply these rules too. This is basically so we don't look...well..."dumb".
I find myself agreeing with Martha Brockinbrough, and all those who also agree with her. Grammar is of great importance. To be frank, those who use abbreviations of words, when texting, are completely destroying what writing is about. I find myself at times asking what an abbreviation is because; I have no real knowledge of those abbreviations. Although grammar is important, I think that it is ok not to use it when we are talking or writing to a friend, but, when a student is writing a paper or talking to a teacher, as well as, signs, should include proper grammar because it is formal writing. I would say let the rules go, but they’re important, how else will we gain knowledge if we can’t even write properly. I say that if I attempt to use proper grammar, so should everyone else. That way we are all speaking the same language.
The correct usage of grammar is just as important in this modern age as it was decades ago and further beyond. Although we have approached a new age of social communication, characterized with brief, short messages lacking grammatical intelligence in the name of convenience, grammar is no less important than it was when our language's guidelines had been set. Yes, communication is essential, but are our new methods of the quick-type message, in fact, hurting our very own intelligence?
Just as Martha Brockenbrough had stated, the “Standards of football keep things interesting, fair and fun. I think they do the same for language", Grumbles admits that "Certain standards need to stay in place."
I strongly disagree with Candice. Correct grammar and spelling is extremely important to get through your life. It allows everyone to be on the same page without any misunderstandings. It also says a lot about a person. For example, our college essays. Does anyone seriously think that we would get accepted to the college of our choice when we can’t even spell? Any person in the right mind would think that we’re stupid and not fit for college. We can’t write formal documents the way we would write a myspace message. I think myspace and face book are the only exceptions to the whole grammar issue.
I agree with Martha Brokenbrough's perspective about formal writing. We should be able to write formally on papers, letters and anything that doesn't involve talking to friends as Macrina points out. We may have our own way of talking with our friends because it can make things fun but that doesn't mean we should use this for every writing assignment. Writing formally helps us to understand each other instead of figuring out symbols; though there are few exceptions such as songs and stories. As people try to understand each other, we still need that formality for us to be more presentable because others will except you more even though that might not be the way you talk.
Hej
Erica L Castillo.
I strongly agree with Candace with her views about grammar and spelling. Also, Ken Smith is very right when he says “teachers should just accept their students' errors"
Teachers are making students stay up all night just try to find all commas. What is the point? A comma does not change anything.
Students of all ages have a hard time with grammar but that does not mean that they are not as smart. Teachers tend to judge students on grammar. Mr. Smith is right we should just give students a break. We will all make mistakes when writing. On the other hand, spelling is a must. Spelling can change the whole meaning of what you are try to say.
When students are writing, it is just a habit to write "hbu?" and not "How about you?" Some students just forget. But we can not blame texting only. We should blame the Internet along with texting.
I bet I have a ton of problems with this blog with grammar but I still got my point out and I’m sure you understand my point.
Cesar Servin
I agree with Rocio and Jasmin that grammar is important. It’s important to know correct grammar to make it easier to understand each other. Sometimes we might know what other people say when they use bad grammar, but this is because we add our own meaning to what we think they’re trying to say which causes us to do some thinking. To make it easier we use correct grammar. I think it’s funny seeing bad grammar on signs and posters. I don’t mind it, but I also wouldn’t want to be laughed at for having a sign with bad grammar. I agree with Diana Grumbles although not completely. I agree that we should try to use grammar correctly, but we shouldn’t be expected to use it correctly everywhere. I don’t think it matters when bad grammar is used to send quick messages. As long as we know when and with who to use it there shouldn‘t be a problem. Obviously, I wouldn’t use it when communicating with a person like Diana Grumbles. I would, however, use it when talking with my friends if we understand each other fine. Grammar does make it easier to let others know our meaning. I don’t think it should be mandatory to use it everywhere, but it does help send a clear message.
Dominika has suggested that Martha Brockenbrough's viewpoint on grammar is the most acceptable---I totally agree with her. Just as correct spelling and proper grammar is a pain in the ass, its vital when interacting with others of different cultures, backgrounds, and race. When writing a paper or sending an email, we often like to assume that that person "knows what we mean." This perception is wrong because everyone interprets things differently. Further, your writing reveals a since of who you are to someone who has never had the pleasure of meeting you. I like to think of your correct spelling and grammar as your "first and last impression." I feel everyone should use proper spelling and grammar because it's the only thing keeping society together as one.
I meant to say "holding" in last sentence!!!!
Egder Dominguez
I agree with Ana’s (first blog entry) response that texting and quick e-mails have no serious detriment on your grammatical errors. Teenagers tend to text in a way as to imitate the slang words they use when talking to friends (i.e. “aight” since we do not say “alright”). It would also take too much time to use proper grammar when texting. Furthermore, I agree with her view that the two men were extremists in taking matters into their own hands and correcting grammatical errors on items owned by government. Another point which I agree with is how the media (newspapers, magazines, etc.) should definitely avoid having any grammatical errors.
However, the article pokes fun at businesses that are ridden with grammatical errors. Many businesses owners are not aware of the grammatical errors and I do not blame them. This is especially the case if the owner is a foreigner. My local corner store has various hand-made signs with grammatical errors that nobody complains about.
Mr. Podgorni has made it a tradition to make fun of the IB students by comparing their performance in class with that of the Advanced Placement class. Who am I to break a tradition? Ana must have meant miscommunication instead of “malcommunition” and she should have removed the word “it” from her last sentence.
I agree with Candace’s opinion about grammar to a point. Also, I partly agree with Ken Smith’s claim that students shouldn’t be beating up about their grammar problems. Although, I do think that students should be told to fix them. This is the shift when I begin to agree with everyone else about Martha Brockenbrough claim. Especially when she says, “there are rules for football….and driving...and the same is for language.” I just feel Brockenbrough and Grumbles make good points that anyone and everyone should know when to use proper grammar. I also agree that grammar matters because it helps us to understand each other a lot better. Besides, if we use improper grammar in language we just look silly as a society because it is the language we created. However, I don’t agree with Grumbles claim that texting contributes to the downfall of grammar. I feel that Grumbles is leaving out a lot more elements that help with the downfall.
Hi, this is Julie!
I entirely agree with Grumbles that spelling and grammar is exceedingly important. Although many will argue that we deserve a break, it doesn't give us the right to simply ignore the fact that grammar is important in society and it does have an impact on how people see you. Yes, everyone makes mistakes and grammar can be a pain; since we're constantly making grammatical errors, doesn't it give us more of a reason to practice more on correct grammar? I do agree that sometimes incorrect grammar may be used with your friends and family, but it shouldn't be so extreme to the point where we make mistakes on ads, newspaper, and etc. I agree with Jon that grammar does affect the people around us and how we're looked upon from society. (Haha, Jon, you and your musicals!)
Grumbles has suggested that we should use proper grammar and spelling. Although, many people would agree that grammar is not an important element in writing, in my opinion, grammar is key for our understanding of any language. I agree with Grumbles and Macrina because spelling and grammar are equally significant. Take for example the following line: The presents are four my sisters’ fried, when instead it should be: The presents are for my sister’s friend. A simple mistake could change the whole meaning of a sentence, so let us not ruin the wonderful rules of writing. ^-^ Also, I would have to admit that we all make grammar and spelling mistakes but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t correct them and let go of the rules. We shouldn’t be lazy! We should just write properly because in today’s society, if you don’t know how to write you are doomed to fail.
-Desiree Portalatin
I agree with RORO to a point. Grammar is important, depending where it is being used. For example, if you are in english class, of course it will matter! If you are in the businness world (this includes the media), proper grammar is necessary. If you write the wrong word or word choice, it completely changes the effect and meaning of what you are trying to say. For example, commas can emphasize a word to have a strong meaning. However, if you are just writing to a friend or texting, it should not matter if you use proper grammar. Now a days, when people text, they use shorter versions of words so they don't have to write it completely. The number two in numeric form can represent the words to and/or too.
So, just make sure you use grammar wisely.
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