Does it matter if you say your when you mean you’re? Or its instead of it’s?
Stephen Fry On Language
Here’s a wonderful speech to hear by Stephen Fry, made delightful to watch by Matthew Rogers.
There’s no right language or wrong language
any more than there are right or wrong clothes.
Context, convention, and circumstance are all.
Write As You Would Dress
I agree. Language is not right or wrong so much as it is more or less suitable and effective.
My approach? Dress [write] for the occasion. Dress [write] in a way that feels good to you and looks good or even gives pleasure to people whose opinions you care about. Try not to be too judgy about how others dress [express themselves]. And if all else fails, you can get away with a lot if you have on a great pair of boots [um…?].
I like to be grammatically well-dressed where I can, but without pedantry. I don’t like it when people are ridiculed for a misplaced apostrophe, but I’m mortified if I do it myself. I enjoy making up words, adopting neologisms, and deliberately ignoring grammatical stuffiness.
Which is why this category is called Grammarama rather than Tight-Sphincter-Grammar.
Does Grammar Matter?
Does grammar matter? Is there right or wrong language? What do you think?
It matters to me that kids have graduated high school and can’t use there they’re and their correctly. Or since and sense. We’re is not we’re. You know. Fill in your own. We didn’t leave a subject til we knew it. Pet peeve of mine I guess.
Thanks for your opinion Glenda. 🙂 Are kids now not taught grammar or do they not care enough to use what they’ve been taught? I wonder…
I font know. It is older people too and it’s irritating to me. Once in a while, Ok. But not all the time.
So that’s where I get that from. Lol:)
Ha Ha.
I was a little flattered to be called a pedant. I think there is a wrong way to dress, as Stephen pointed out, say for an interview. If a man showed up for a business interview in a swimsuit, goulashes and a pink tutu, there is little chance he’ll get the job. For me, it is the same with small business. If a company can’t put together a page of coherent, properly spelled grammatically correct web content, how can I expect them to handle my transaction with accuracy and efficiency?
Amen, sister.
And I guess that’s his point – it matters in certain situations, for example in job interviews. But for some of us, perhaps like you and me Jenifer,it matters all the time. We like to be well dressed wherever we go. 🙂
So write, er um right.
For me, speaking/writing properly is about knowing the rules. Once you know them, you can break them to make a point.