So there is something about grammar that gets all of us riled up in one way or another. While reading the Schuster book this week, I kept thinking to myself how silly some of these mythrules and arguments can be.
I have to admit that I hate receiving communication from anyone above me (professor, supervisor) that is incorrectly articulated.
I HATE READING THINGS IN ALL CAPS AND FEEL ANGRY AFTERWARDS.
I also hte whan their are so meny rong werds that I haf to decode be4 enythng lse.
I don't mean to be a snob, but to me, language is important and we need to use it correctly to fit the situation. There are really lots of places that grammar runs rampant-- I seen, get me some, hafta, and lol--and sometimes I just have to walk away before I want to tear my hair out.
Our brains are so busy and a hot mess of language and knowledge. I can't imagine trying to figure out how to learn to speak/write English without any sort of background. There are so many different rules and exceptions.
The Williams article was very short but informative. I didn't realize our language was so much of a hodgepodge of Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin, native English, and Greek. Very interesting and it explains how some of the french words I know sound errily familiar to English. The sneaky French didn't steal it, we did! Mon dieu! This just reminds me how young our country is and how other countries have been at it a lot longer, creating societies and languages. Interesting stuff and it only makes grammar that much more complex and frustrating at times.
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I have studied Latin, Spanish, and Greek. It was amazing how many words were the same, similar, or obviously related. I think it would be interesting to share some of this with our students, give them a little "history of our language."
ReplyDeleteI like that idea Renee! I've really learned the difficulty of the English language during my practicum. My 5th hour is a "Reading Strategies" class for ELL students. It's tricky to explain grammar rules when so many words are irregular or seem to fit a rule but really don't. At least the students are still trying!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just wanted to say that I liked how your post was written with ALL CAPS and mispeled wrds. Very clever :)
Your last paragraph makes an interesting point - though the variety of words in the English language allows us flexibility, it also creates problems when we try to deal with grammar.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm totally with you on being frustrated when people just completely disregaurd all rules of writing and grammar. Of course, there can be grace (no one's perfect) but when you need to translate something into common English just to decipher a text there's a problem!
I think it's fantastic to be studying the history of our language and learning how words came to be. While grammar can be frustrating it is definitely necessary to get our points across!
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