We need more proofreaders – or grammar teachers, possibly
I just came from Third World County. David has a post entitled It’s the little things. He speaks about the lack of correct grammar in sentences and the problem with too many apostrophes. That has long been a sore spot of mine as well. I am known to proofread when I am visiting blogs or reading articles on the Internet. If you are like me, you aren’t surprised to find some very bad mistakes. I know we all make them sometimes, but there are journalists who should know better. If all else fails, put your article into a grammar checker and get it right!
When I first started working, I worked my way up to the advertising department of a jewelry company. I proofread ads daily for the local newspaper and it taught me sight-reading like you would not believe. I skim lots of pages and my eyes just seem to fall on mistakes. Oh, I have to add, if I make a mistake (accidentally hit a wrong key and do not see my mistake), I have friends who find it. So there are other proofreaders out there, for sure. I once read an article that said the most important thing to remember before publishing an article to your blog is to proofread it to make sure everything is correct. We sometimes overlook that and, in haste, publish a faulty post.
The one thing that students aren’t taught today is how to diagram a sentence. When they learn this correctly, other things fall into place. Once you learn, you never forget. It is like typing; once you learn where to put your fingers on the keys, it is just automatic to place them there. It is the same way with taking dictation, playing the piano, etc. These things never leave your mind. I say go back to the old ways of teaching; kids came out of high school knowing how to write a paper correctly and how to punctuate!
Technorati Tags: Grammar, Punctuation, Diagram, School
5 Comments:
Urm, Barb, third world county.
*heh*
Actually, the problems with literacy can be directly attributed to... immorality. It's sloth--a moral problem--that keeps people from learning HOW to read well and that keeps them from READING to be well-informed enough to be good citizens.
And it's dereliction of ones (notice the proper absence of an apostrophe there? *heh*) duty as a citizen to be uninformed or ill-informed.
In fact, in addition to two other moral issues (greed and despair), intellectual and ethical sloth is leading the way over the precipice to our doom.
David, I fixed that very quickly! I said we all make mistakes. Guess I made mine for today!
As for slothfulness, check out Proverbs 19:15 and Ecclesiastes 10:18.
As for immorality, there is a moral decay in our country!
Hi Barb, Thanks for your visit!! I always love for you to come on over and visit me!! I have been without a computer for quite a while!! I had to use the Wii and that is no fun at all!! Love and hugs Grams
Grams, I've never had Wii, so I don't know how it works. Glad you got your computer back.
Let's face it. People are lazy, and in general we're not getting any more energetic. When you just finished a paper for a college or high school class you don't want to sit there and proofread it.
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