Friday, October 21, 2005

Roasted Grammar

Gotta love a good bit of argy-bargy, and over at Smart Bitches there's a long argument involving grammar. Sara Donati also gives a bit of history on the English language. Let's remember that it is an amalgam of other languages that was then mixed with peasant commentary. The language is versatile and flexible, but it is also the most mongrel of all the languages.

For my part, the language grows more complex. To give you an example: the Americans use the Webster's Dictionary, the English use the Oxford, and we here in the land of Aus use the Macquarie Dictionary. I don't know what other English-speaking countries use, and I don't care unless called upon to edit work from there. There will be endless arguments about the correct use of words; for some aspects of grammar, it is simple and straightforward. An example, the confusing in the use of its or it's. It's is a contraction of it is. That's is a contraction of that is. Who's is a contraction of who is.

Actually, if you really want to know this stuff, find yourself a book on grammar. Better yet, lobby the government to reintroduce grammar into the English curriculum. It's a kind of hobby horse, but I'll say it again: we are raising a generation of illiterates who won't be able to communicate properly. They don't know how. I'll leave it with a final comment that the above problem is one reason why I became an editor.

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