Focus On: Grammar Blogs | by Elizabeth on August 22, 2012
Rant about your pet peeve. Blog (forgive the verbed noun) about it. The outlet will do you good.
- Does a particular mistake really make your blood boil? Yup. When sentences end in prepositions. For example, a website called “ThoughtQuestions” asks questions that ends in “(~ing) about“, “(hope/ing) for“, “(action) to“, “in“, “often“, “(look) like“, “be“, “of“, “(you live) by“, “(give up) on“, “(put up) with“…
- Do you grit your teeth every time someone says “for all intensive purposes”? I actually grind my teeth at night and don’t really grit my teeth when someone says “for crying out loud” either.
- Does it make you scream whenever someone verbs a noun? Not really and I thought the word “gifted” was a verb! For example, there is a group of crystal workers. They would often use the word “gifted” as a verb and NOT as an adjective. For example, I gifted a friend/a location with some orgonite pieces.
Go into depth about a less often examined issue.
- It’s better to start a sentence without its vague reference to “it“, whatever it is.
- You’re so smart to know that your mind doesn’t measure up to our standards.
Pick or praise [on] a beloved movie, song, or author. Using a specific, widely-known example to illustrate a grammar mistake is a wonderful way to punch up such posts.
- Is there a movie or a song you could use to highlight language principles? Nope. I don’t have the time to research/answer properly.
- Do you know of an author who never once misuses a word or splits an infinitive? Nope. I don’t have the time to research/answer properly.
Pick a side. Certain points of grammar are divisive, and posting about them is guaranteed to stir up some debate.
- Did you notice my use of the singular they just above? Nope. Comma’s make no difference on listed items.
- Did it irritate you, or did you consider it a workable solution to our lack of gender-neutral pronouns? I didn’t feel irritated because in an alternate universe of “true” unity there is NO clear distinction or necessary adjective based on gender. He/she/it/they ARE treated as one and the same.
- How’d you feel about the Oxford commas above it? The extra commas helped slowed down my thought process and actually LOOKED at each word – move, song, or author, repeatedly.
Tell an origin story.
- Where did the word groovy come from? When did we start using “neat” to mean “cool”? Or cool to mean cool? Why do we say “in a pig’s eye”? This is a good way to practice our grammar and how each spelling has evolved over time. For example, “What’s up” evolved to “wassup’ and blogging about it’s origin would be interesting.
Theorize. Some of the more interesting grammar posts are about grammar itself.
- Where did the rules come from? The rules don’t matter.
- How important is the ability to write properly today? Writing then is as important today. Incoherent writing looses all meaning.
- How important should it be? Do away with proper grammar and correct spelling. The English language is too difficult. Pictographs would help. But I take that back because we still cannot decipher all Egyptian hieroglyphs and other ancient writings. Hmm.
Leave a Reply