English Grammar
Watch this postHow important is the correct use of English grammar and punctuation to you on social networking sites? If you see something mis-spelt on Facebook are you itching to correct it, or does it not detract from the what you are reading?
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Many years ago when I was a young staff nurse, I read the handover report (an official record) written in haste, "Jonny returned from theatre following a tonsillectomy vomited mother coming up later". Despite no punctuation, we all understood what the message was.
However, many years later when I was a senior nurse, I spent time talking with a patient who was attending our outpatient clinic. She was distressed at the lack of progress with her condition despite taking the prescribed medication. She was a University lecturer so one has to assume she was intelligent. When going though her day she explained the difficulty of cutting a tablet into four equal pieces and wondered if this was the problem. I then understood what the problem was. When I later discussed the case with my staff, some of the nurses asked how stupid could she be. I asked why they believed she was stupid as she followed the instructions on the medicine bottle - " Take one tablet four times a day". A classic example of not ensuring the message being sent is the one being received, and professionals believing everyone understands their language. From then on they all gave the instruction " ...that means four tablets a day"!
Native speakers of a language make very few grammar errors as they have assimilated the system from infancy. For example, when a three year old says "I runned home" it shows s/he has applied a grammatical rule to a verb, expecting it to be regular. No-one taught her/him to say that and s/he will soon learn instinctively what the correct form is.
In some dialects, Standard English grammar is altered in the spoken version [less common in writing] and some will say "I were in town last night" or "when her come back from town". This may not be standard English but for that dialect it is correct.
My problem with grammatically incorrect phraseology (and the added problem of the influence of 'text-speak') is not that the English language is evolving, but that it's evolving into the incomprehensible.
My real pet hate is when people write " could of" instead of " could've.
Nowadays there's something called the Oxford comma and according to Google "The proper definition of the Oxford comma is “a comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before 'and' or 'or'.”
Don't know if that helps or just confuses the issue further! 🙂 Carole
Also, what is "from the get-go" supposed to mean?
In the U.S. I have never seen rooves as a plural for roof. It would make sense, though.
I am flabbergasted by how many Americans can't spell. I frequently see adults write things like "egg's" or "there coming to my house." They should know better!
Hearing it or reading it detracts immensely from whatever meaning or pleasure I'm trying to derive from any situation.
What is even worse, is outlandish exaggeration. I of course refer to trend of everybody now claiming that everything is 'awesome'. Another great import from America.
The Grand Canyon is an awesome sight. Witnessing and being a part of the birth of your first child, is an awesome experience. I have no doubt the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were also a magnificent and awesome sight. Pizzas, Coffee, clothes and nights out are not awesome.