HUH?I learned English as a young child but my first language is Tagalog. I went to a private Christian grade school were we were supposed to speak English at all times. There were monitors around the playground who listed the names of rule breakers. I remember rebelling against that rule because I was not comfortable speaking English all the time. So I did not talk very much at all to avoid being cited.
However, I did write in English very well. And spelling was a big deal. I was always good at spelling until my sixth grade teacher decided to teach the "arrogant" students a lesson and had us spell biological jargon like pteridophytes and phyllum---words that we were yet to learn. But once the test was over and we all bombed, I never misspelled those words again and I immediately went to the dictionary to find out the meanings of each strange word.
As a young child, my favorite book came in three volumes: the very red, hard bound copy of The Reader's Digest Encyclopaedic Dictionary. One volume had words, phrases and foreign phrases classified into various categories, like medical terms and latin phrases. Another had well-known quotes. I perused through every volume, eager to memorize and learn every word on every page. Everyday, I'd learn a new word and then tried to use it when I wrote my daily essays. I loved words and a well constructed sentence. I began to memorize favorite lines from stories and plays...even movies.
When I arrived in the US for the first time in 1975, barely 19 years old, I thought I could finally use my "dictionary" English. What a crock. Even some of my teachers couldn't spell to save their lives.
I don't profess to be a grammarian, but obvious grammatical and spelling errors bug the heck out of me. And though I know that they don't necessarily mean that the offender is lacking in intelligence, it does show some carelessness. There is a saying in Tagalog that states: Ang hindi marunong magmahal ng sarili wika, ay masahol pa sa malansang isda---roughly translates, he who does not love his own language is worse than a rancid fish. Communicating complex concepts require some measure of eloquence and the more adept we are at presenting concepts effectively using words, the better it will be for all of us.
Here's a short of list of what peeves me the most:
1. Your vs You're: I mean, come on! You're is a contraction of "you are" so if you are saying, You are breaking my heart, please don't write: your breaking my heart, because that is so, so wrong! It's just as annoying as writing, you're car awaits, sir. This is just sheer pedestrian writing. Ugh!
2. Lay vs Lie: Eee-eeuuuw. I hear this all the time. And although one can argue that it's simply local color which is true, it does grate on me like nails on a chalkboard when I hear, I'm going to lay down here on the couch. Yuck. I always tell my kids that you lay something down but you are supposed to lie down on something. Thus, the correct way is: I am going to lie down on this couch. Now hold on---remember the phrase: now I lay me down to sleep? Well, here we are laying something down which would be "me". Here's some good examples of "lay" usage: Lay down your burdens. Lay your head on my pillow. Lay that purse on this table. Get it? Here's some examples of correct usage of "lie": Lie down beside me. Lie down on this gurney. Here lies Winthrop Kaka. Get it? That's more like it.
3. Should have vs should of: Yikes. I see this all the time. It is NEVER should of and it is always should have. That should be easy. I mean, I should of done it? What the heck kind of sense does that sentence make? It's SHOULD HAVE. I should have done it. I should have spelled it right.
4. In lieu of of: EEEEK. Some people want to sound more hip and use this phrase but so wrong! This phrase literally means, in the PLACE of...from the French word, lieu which means...place! Bad usage: In lieu of the fact that it rained today, we will all wear raincoats. That's savage. Good usage: In lieu of flowers, please donate a million dollars to Mitt Romney's campaign. Yeah. Easy enough.
5. Wrong use of homonyms or words that sound almost the same: This is carelessness at its worse! Hear vs here. Except vs accept. Principal vs principle. (Gosh this just reeks!) Assure, ensure and insure. Compliment (which means..."to flatter or praise" if used as a verb and if used as a noun, it means a commendation or a felicitation.) vs complement...(which means "to complete, to round off, to harmonize, to match well".) Here's a good sentence example: When you compliment your wife, you might want to tell her that the color of her eyes complement her yellow jacket. Yeah. 'Nuff said.
6. It's vs its: People come on: it's is merely a contraction of "it is".
There's more on my list but for now, I'm going to stop lest I rile myself up and it's so early in the morning. Yeah, now I must quit while I'm ahead because then I might start writing about how texting has changed how we value good grammar and good writing skills. Bah humbug!
However, I did write in English very well. And spelling was a big deal. I was always good at spelling until my sixth grade teacher decided to teach the "arrogant" students a lesson and had us spell biological jargon like pteridophytes and phyllum---words that we were yet to learn. But once the test was over and we all bombed, I never misspelled those words again and I immediately went to the dictionary to find out the meanings of each strange word.
As a young child, my favorite book came in three volumes: the very red, hard bound copy of The Reader's Digest Encyclopaedic Dictionary. One volume had words, phrases and foreign phrases classified into various categories, like medical terms and latin phrases. Another had well-known quotes. I perused through every volume, eager to memorize and learn every word on every page. Everyday, I'd learn a new word and then tried to use it when I wrote my daily essays. I loved words and a well constructed sentence. I began to memorize favorite lines from stories and plays...even movies.
When I arrived in the US for the first time in 1975, barely 19 years old, I thought I could finally use my "dictionary" English. What a crock. Even some of my teachers couldn't spell to save their lives.
I don't profess to be a grammarian, but obvious grammatical and spelling errors bug the heck out of me. And though I know that they don't necessarily mean that the offender is lacking in intelligence, it does show some carelessness. There is a saying in Tagalog that states: Ang hindi marunong magmahal ng sarili wika, ay masahol pa sa malansang isda---roughly translates, he who does not love his own language is worse than a rancid fish. Communicating complex concepts require some measure of eloquence and the more adept we are at presenting concepts effectively using words, the better it will be for all of us.
Here's a short of list of what peeves me the most:
1. Your vs You're: I mean, come on! You're is a contraction of "you are" so if you are saying, You are breaking my heart, please don't write: your breaking my heart, because that is so, so wrong! It's just as annoying as writing, you're car awaits, sir. This is just sheer pedestrian writing. Ugh!
2. Lay vs Lie: Eee-eeuuuw. I hear this all the time. And although one can argue that it's simply local color which is true, it does grate on me like nails on a chalkboard when I hear, I'm going to lay down here on the couch. Yuck. I always tell my kids that you lay something down but you are supposed to lie down on something. Thus, the correct way is: I am going to lie down on this couch. Now hold on---remember the phrase: now I lay me down to sleep? Well, here we are laying something down which would be "me". Here's some good examples of "lay" usage: Lay down your burdens. Lay your head on my pillow. Lay that purse on this table. Get it? Here's some examples of correct usage of "lie": Lie down beside me. Lie down on this gurney. Here lies Winthrop Kaka. Get it? That's more like it.
3. Should have vs should of: Yikes. I see this all the time. It is NEVER should of and it is always should have. That should be easy. I mean, I should of done it? What the heck kind of sense does that sentence make? It's SHOULD HAVE. I should have done it. I should have spelled it right.
4. In lieu of of: EEEEK. Some people want to sound more hip and use this phrase but so wrong! This phrase literally means, in the PLACE of...from the French word, lieu which means...place! Bad usage: In lieu of the fact that it rained today, we will all wear raincoats. That's savage. Good usage: In lieu of flowers, please donate a million dollars to Mitt Romney's campaign. Yeah. Easy enough.
5. Wrong use of homonyms or words that sound almost the same: This is carelessness at its worse! Hear vs here. Except vs accept. Principal vs principle. (Gosh this just reeks!) Assure, ensure and insure. Compliment (which means..."to flatter or praise" if used as a verb and if used as a noun, it means a commendation or a felicitation.) vs complement...(which means "to complete, to round off, to harmonize, to match well".) Here's a good sentence example: When you compliment your wife, you might want to tell her that the color of her eyes complement her yellow jacket. Yeah. 'Nuff said.
6. It's vs its: People come on: it's is merely a contraction of "it is".
There's more on my list but for now, I'm going to stop lest I rile myself up and it's so early in the morning. Yeah, now I must quit while I'm ahead because then I might start writing about how texting has changed how we value good grammar and good writing skills. Bah humbug!
No comments:
Post a Comment