I agonize over the difference between a prepositional phrase and a phrasal preposition; I despair over misplaced correlative conjunction and subordinating conjunction; I fume over the misuse of “whomever” and “whoever;” I cringe when someone says, “for you and I;” I grieve over proper nouns in lower case.
The pits is, I diagram compound-complex and complex-complex sentences to make sure every part of speech is properly used and placed.
If I weren't so serious, this would be so funny—considering how people these days mangle, maim, and mutilate the English language on cellphones, blogs, FB and other social networking sites. And nobody seems to care!
I unearthed long-forgotten grammar and style books and spent hours re-learning language rules I had put on the back burner. I went over my past book manuscripts to analyze why my editors asked me to rephrase a sentence or two.
Of course I am aware of the fact that language is a living, breathing organism. In fact, “formulas” and “symposiums” now appear in the dictionary. The “Dictionary of Allowable Errors” has to be regularly updated because many of its contents have been moved to the real dictionary. So why bother?
Of course my students couldn't understand how I could spot sentences without commas, em dashes, hyphens, apostrophes, and semi-colons. So what's the big deal if one is missing?
The big deal is, the corporate world is peppered with language gurus and grammar Nazis—English is the international language of business. The usage of correct grammar makes for clearer messages that build goodwill and win accounts. Since I am arming my students against the big, bad wolves, I need to nitpick.
Yet no matter how careful I am, I still make massive mistakes myself.
By virtue of grace, I have meticulous book editors who look for the proverbial needle in a haystack. And in my last blog post, a dear friend, whom I haven't seen nor heard from for eons, posted a comment on my blog that instead of “brass,” maybe I meant “crass”?
See what I mean?
I have no intention of usurping my book editors' realm, nor denying my friends the chance to correct me. But as a teacher of English for Business 101, I must hemorrhage and ache to make sure I drag my college students to the path of proper usage and syntax that they have ignored in favor of jejemon and other more exciting fads.
The trouble with grammar is, there is none among the young generation of celebrities (whom, who) students can emulate to realize good grammar is relevant.
There are only ornery teachers like (me, I) who split hairs. Toink!
6 comments:
Hurrah! (Now is that the right spelling?) I mean, teachers of English nowadays are heroes. I taught English myself and gave up in three months. The reason, I'm impatient and sometimes, I don't know what is wrong with what I think is wrong. And then I tell the students that their English is so poor. (Luckily, they don't ask me to elaborate - thanks to the educational system which has taught them to not ask questions)
Hahaha! Jophen, there are just too many rules and exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions to the rules!
My English teacher, Mrs. Rosita Padlan, was my favorite in grade school. I remember how she diagrammed sentences ( parsing?), to my amazement.
I wonder who among my students will say that about me?! You have always been one-of-a-kind, Boy P.
Once in a while I still get lost, but being armed with the rules indeed helps, specially if you’re in business. I hope our students realize that. You’re my grammar here, Grace.
Yup, even writers still get lost. But we try hard to find our way-- ASAP. The Net has made research easier and more accessible to seekers like us.
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