Greetings Dear Reader,
Every once in a while I get exasperated by the degradation of our language. Today is National Grammar Day. As I ponder the changes in our language over the last few decades I am amazed at the swiftness at which language changes. Words degrade and degenerate due to poor education. Meaning is skewed by culture and commonality.
I realize that language is a living thing. Change is necessary or English goes the way of Latin or Chaldean. Many words lose their usefulness through changes is industry, commerce, and technology. New words arrive for the same reasons. The thing that is threatening to me is that language is also being degraded at the common level.
My rant may be the result of having just corrected and graded thirty lengthy term papers. Some common mistakes that I found very alarming are ones that should be rooted out in elementary if not high school. The examples that follow were each evidenced in at least two of the papers I recently marked.
Than and Then: Than is a conjunction for comparison. Then is an adverb denoting time.
Accept and Except: Accept is a verb for receiving things. Except is either a preposition of exclusion or a verb for the same purpose.
Affect and Effect: Affect is usually a verb regarding influence or a noun of expression. Effect is usually a noun denoting result or can be used as a verb to bring about a result.
There, They’re, and Their: There is an adverb or an expletive. They’re is a contraction of They Are. Their is a plural possessive pronoun. (Their is not singular. It is improper to try to be politically correct by using this instead of his or hers.)
To, Too, and Two: To is a preposition for which there must be an object. Too is an adverb meaning also. Two is a number meaning more than one but less than three.
They’re is many moore ex-samples of the weigh bad grammar effects hour language. Than again wee can muggle hour weigh threw things if we knead two. It is to bad that hour language has so many acceptions two the rules. I guess wheele have too reed they’re righting more carefully.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a home owner. He brings new and old things out of his treasure store."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Looks like you've definitely excelled in vocabulary and of course writing!
ReplyDeleteSuch an awearness you have to the English vocab, many just overlook these slight infractions but where will that lead the next generation?
ReplyDeleteAnd the one after that?
Keep up the good work!