When speaking, the noun is that thing which you speak about. That thing which is described by the adjective, you see, or that thing which is done by the verb. The basic basis of our talk, the noun helps us present an object into the mind of the listener. You yourself are likely a noun, though if you are doing a thing you are a verb, and if you are being some way you are an adjective. Likely, if you are sitting still, you are a noun.
Click here to read it. There are also a few other entries in this series. These articles are just for fun, but they're also very good satires of grammar. And you probably thought such a thing couldn't exist.
7 comments:
That was a pretty amusing article, and of course it took me a few minutes to understand that i did not need to understand...ah, the joys of satire!
anI found the grammar article to be quite amusing. About halfway through I began to have a sneaky feeling that there were errors in the piece, but of course, I did not really pinpoint any of them. The reason I did not pinpoint them is because I was letting them slide; figuring that this was a published author and there is no way that I could possibly point out his grammar errors. And that is exactly what he wanted us to see, well maybe not exactly, but I think it was a good point he was making. His main point for the errors, the idea that the ones that are most important to us will pop out, was interesting. I really did only find two sentences that literally jumped out and bit me, but I could not really tell you what he did wrong. I think that I may be forever cursed with lack of grammar knowledge, but that doesn’t seem to be such a big deal I suppose. I mean, I can read a freshman’s paper without having a ton of grammar knowledge in my head, so that allows me to focus more on the content. Well, maybe I am exaggerating a bit here because I have checked papers and I know it is easy to focus on “obvious” grammar errors, but I figure I have a shot of not being a complete grammar nazi.d here is my dish on the article;
I guess I never really considered myself having any strong aversions to particular grammar errors until reading this article. After contemplation though, I see that there are a few that I do indeed "loathe" to see. I will wait to share them in class though.
It is kind of comical to think that even we English majors, don't catch all the grammar mistakes that are out there in the world. It makes me have a lot more symapthy for Freshmen in College Comp. Obviously, grammar is difficult to pick up on, or maybe just easy to ignore and read over. I know I probably skim over errors in my own work every day. If we don't catch everything, as lovers of language, than it is pretty probable that other "regular" people won't either. (And, can we really expect them to?) They have to know the basics granted, but I don't think we can expect them to be perfect. We aren't.
Speaking of errors though... Did anyone read the article in the Features section of the Kent Stater today? (It was about the changing role of women...) It was terribly written and started out with a quote that wasn't even a complete sentence. Yesterday, I noticed an even more glaring error. A headline read, "The roll of black men," instead of the role of black men. (Those sorts of things can, and should be fixed.)
That being said, pay no attention to errors that may or may not be in this blog. hahaha
Ashley-
I've found that people who write for college newspapers generally aren't very invested in the art of writing (keep in mind that I'm a disgruntled former newspaper writer). You're essentially reading the homework of journalism majors, which is why the same articles about the same subjects are written every darn semester. I tried to change things on The Stater, but that obviously didn't get me very far.
Print is dying (at least periodicals are), though, so it's not like this is going to be an issue for much longer.
One thing that stuck me about this article was what he said toward the end. "Those that you did not notice should then not be among those we look for first when we read a student's paper." Should we be reading student papers "looking for errors" in the first place. That seems kinda cruel and not really the point at all. Plus I think his sentence is an example of a grammer error, is it really good english to write "should then not be" that seems a little redundant.
thanks, bob. :) i dig articles like this. i love being a grammar junkie, but it's important to be able to laugh at yourself.
something similar my boyfriend forwarded me from the onion:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/third_person_limited
perhaps more aligned for the fiction writers . . .
Yes, the Williams article for tomorrow also shows that we notice more errors when we’re looking for errors.
Considering Bob’s question, I think there are some foundational rules that, when broken, hinder the readability of writing. There are others we don’t notice and others we ignore. When I read it the first time, I noticed some awkward sentences, and many sentences started with “but” and “and”—which, honestly, I don’t like to consider an “error” if writers do it in moderation. Hey, I do it all the time! It seems like more of a stylistic choice. Wrong words and phrases are what really bother me: like, “alot,” “hanged/hung,” “between you and I,” or “I could care less.” That one really drives me mad! If you just think about it for a second, saying “I could care less” doesn’t make any sense. And I still have a problem with “nauseated/nauseous,” for whatever reason.
As Ashley pointed out, and as Williams proved, we’re not perfect writers/readers either. I realize my own writing has mistakes, and I enjoyed his discussion on rethinking “error.”
Anyway, I guess we’ll talk about all this tomorrow!
Laurin--
I agree--that sentence is rather awkward! And looking for errors doesn’t seem to be the point at all. I suppose the nature of “grading” makes us approach student papers differently than we would something--like the Williams article, for example--that we are reading solely for content. There are still problems we notice, but we’re not searching for mistakes and things to mark-up. I guess we should try to approach students’ papers in the same way.
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