There, they’re, their, bitches. Grammar. It’s its special day today, so mind your apostrophes and punctuation on
NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY!
We English speakers abuse Grammar all the time, especially when we write it. We all went to school, learned the rules of English, many of which were pure spiteful torture, but basically we learned how to express ourselves without sounding like Neanderthals.
We got on with our lives, writing notes, memos, reports, grocery lists and instructions for the baby sitters, never a glitch. Then along came social media and Whammo!, right out the window it all goes. People forgot how to spell, punctuate and conjugate.
Some stopped making sense altogether.
But not today, when we return to our roots, recalling our patient English teachers explaining the difference between nouns and pronouns, verbs and adverbs, passive and possessive voices, and all that other stuff we know, but don’t know we know.
We will not invent words like “parenting” today, commit apostrophe abuse, or mangle our only form of communication. This is not jazz, there’s no improvising unless you’re a true artist. There’s rules here. For most of us, it’s all we’ve got, so we might as well give a damn.
•Suggested Activities: English 101