I don't often make posts on this blog, but tomorrow is a day of national importance. Tomorrow, March 4, is National Grammar Day. While I am definitely not an expert on the subject (and there is a strong possibility that I will make grammar errors myself in this post), I am a fan of the very important role grammar plays in each of our lives (teaching Russian at the Air Force Academy for the last few years may have something to do with this).
Far too many grammar errors are made in our society. SPOGG (The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) recently highlighted grammar errors made by several prominent Americans. Check these out:
President George W. Bush
While running for president, he asked, "Is our children learning?" Then, on Sept. 26, 2007, he proved that this wasn't a one-time fluke when he said, "Childrens do learn." (Not all of them, though. Not all of them.)
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton produced a T-shirt that said, "THATS HOT," cheating the poor apostrophe from its rightful place on her bosom. What's more, she sent Lindsay Lohan a text message that said, "i chill with perez, but not enough for your name to get broughten up." Broughten? Is she the only text-messager who likes to lengthen words?
There are many types of grammar errors, but here are a few of my favorites. Can you spot the error?
An apostrophe catastrophe (brought to you by GrammarBlog). There are no apostrophes in Russian, but many of my students still throw them in for fun.
It's not really an emergency, just an "emergency." Check out the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks for more of these.
And finally (yes, you can start sentences with conjunctions), do you know what phrase this diagram refers to (although technically not a grammar error)?
Test your own grammar knowledge with a quiz here. Have a great National Grammar Day. Remember, March 4th is not only a holiday, it's an imperative (March forth!).
P.S. Annee thinks I am the biggest geek she knows.
10 comments:
I love it! Scott and I have a great time watching reality shows and pausing and rewinding the horrendous grammar errors people make when they're trying to sound smart. The Apprentice is especially great for this! But I didn't realize there was a whole day dedicated to grammar.
Poor grammar seems to be more contagious than good grammar. Unfortunatley, bad grammar seems to be inflicting our family here in smalltown usa. I will celebrate the day by.... using better grammar?!
I love the Caring Continuum! That particular mistake really bothers me and I try to gently explain it when I hear it (no, I'm not THAT guy who is always riding on people for grammar). That diagram would be perfect for illustrating the explanation! (If I were THAT guy, I'd have a wallet size copy ;-) ).
Side note, is my punctuation correct?! I hate to make mistakes on grammar day...
Darin,
I love it! Joe and I were just talking last night about how we're (society) bringing up a generation of children who won't know how to communicate. This texting stuff is going to kill us. Geez - I sound really old when I say that. Anyway, how are we supposed to celebrate this special day tomorrow? Any ideas?
Brooke
I'm not really sure how you are supposed to celebrate the day. The SPOGG website recommended eating chili because it is good for the colon (that is a really bad joke).
Funny. I do notice grammar mistakes a lot on TV, but I'm pretty sure my grammar isn't perfect. I do try. I'll try harder.
I like it geek Darin, I like it. I am anxiously awaiting a post on their, there, & they're, proper usage of well vs. good, and the over used apostrophe... (oh, and that "blog of unnecessary quotation marks" is classic!)
I just want to go to the school where a 2.5 GPA gets you into the Honor Club!
I told my kindergartners that it was grammar day and they asked me what the word grammar meant.
glad to see you posting darin.
(of course if you notice any grammatical or punctuation errors they were intentional... you know like irony)
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