Spelling

[jamespowers]

As far as spelling goes, it's a lost cause. Ask any grammar-school teacher about the whole language approach.

Oh geez! That is the worst thing that has ever crossed the public education stage. It may work for some languages but it doesn't work for English. :eusa_doh:

 

[KittyT]

I went to Texas Public Schools from the 1970's to the 1980's and don't remember ever having a class on grammar.

I think the first class I had on grammar was in college. I sort of remember diagramming a sentence or two. But I didn't really "get" what grammar was all about.

I went to private school almost my entire life and I had a lot of instruction in grammar, especially during my junior high school years. However, I never had to diagram a sentence until I took Linguistics in college.

That said, I learned more about the nitty gritty of grammar by taking French. Otherwise, I never would have learned the actual terminology for things like direct and indirect object, etc! The French are crazy about grammar!

 

[Tomasso]

I never had to diagram a sentence until I took Linguistics in college.

That's truly bizarre. I'm thinkin' third grade......maybe fourth....

 

[Mav]

That's truly bizarre. I'm thinkin' third grade......maybe fourth....

Same here. Robert's English as a textbook.

 

[HepKitty]

yep, sentence diagramming in elementary school. a lot of grammar actually, subj dir indir obj obj of prep all that. we get a little verbose in our explanations, but I was ok with it. then later on learned German and French and realized that English is a train wreck of a language. in comparison it has very little structure, verb conjugation is not in the slightest bit logical, spelling rules are few to none, but DON'T end sentences with prepositions!

big pet peeve: people who know to say "she gave me a cake" but when the IO is plural as in the speaker and someone else, they say "she gave her and I a cake" instead of "she gave her and ME a cake" or they say "for you and I" instead of "for you and me" as a subject, to say "you and I" is perfect. not so anywhere else in the sentence

 

[Mav]

English is a train wreck of a language.

Indeed. This is why Esparanto had no chance- we already had a weird, bastardized trade language- English.
I love it, though, and consider myself lucky as a native speaker. It has a weird sort of poetic beauty, and it's nuances are impossible if you weren't raised with it. Further, American English is even more bastardized- it's like you're talking in code.

 

[Tomasso]

Were HepKitty not such a PrettyKitty I would chastise her for not capitalizing her sentences....:rage:

 

[Mav]

Were HepKitty not such a PrettyKitty I would chastise her for not capitalizing her sentences....:rage:

Now, now. It's an Idaho thang.

 

[Puzzicato]

I've never "diagrammed" a sentence in my life. And since when has diagram been a verb?

 

[scottyrocks]

As for praising the structure of lets say French - I took French for a few years in school and wasnt particularly impressed with irregular verbs and not saying half the letters in many of the words. Not very logical, imho.

I went through the 'old style' English instruction, including diagramming sentences. Im not sure, though, that thats what caused me to know how to (even though I often choose to ignore) write and speak a sentence correctly. I think it was mostly through just speaking and writing, and hearing others who knew how to do so correctly, that enabled me to do the same.

The problem I have now is that so many adults around me, in my profession (teaching), dont know how to speak or spell.

 

[HepKitty]

Now, now. It's an Idaho thang.

not at all, it's a "spare the kitty some carpal tunnel" and lazy thing really

which also explains why I like military time, because I'm too lazy to bother with colons

 

[KittyT]

That's truly bizarre. I'm thinkin' third grade......maybe fourth....

Is it wrong for me to think that those of you who did sentence diagramming in school are older than I am?

Same here. Robert's English as a textbook.

That's what we used.

As for praising the structure of lets say French - I took French for a few years in school and wasnt particularly impressed with irregular verbs and not saying half the letters in many of the words. Not very logical, imho.

Well in all fairness, English isn't very logical either. There are a lot of letters in the English language that are also not pronounced, and there are groups of letters that frequently have different pronunciations (a linguistic inconsistency that does not exist in French or in Spanish). In addition, the English language has roughly 450 irregular verbs, 200 of which are still in common use. The French language has roughly 300 irregular verbs, many of which fall into one of 3 categories with similar conjugation rules. We must also remember that our judgment of what constitutes "logical" as far as language is concerned is highly tainted by the ease with which we use our own native language.

For the record, I'm not at all "praising the structure of French." I'm merely illustrating the point that in many foreign countries, France included, there is a much higher importance placed on learning the actual structure of the language.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Is it wrong for me to think that those of you who did sentence diagramming in school are older than I am?

Quite probably true. I was in school from the late sixties thru the seventies, and had the full deal with sentence diagramming, rote spelling, phonics, the whole bit -- but I know that approach isn't taught here anymore, and hasn't been since at least the late eighties. When I was a reporter covering the local education beat, there were *huge* debates about this on the school boards.

 

[LizzieMaine]

not at all, it's a "spare the kitty some carpal tunnel" and lazy thing really

which also explains why I like military time, because I'm too lazy to bother with colons

The comedian Fred Allen always typed his correspondence in lower case. Someone asked him why, and he explained "I've never been able to shift for myself."

 

[Miss Neecerie]

The sky is always falling....

 

[LocktownDog]

which also explains why I like military time, because I'm too lazy to bother with colons

There's a failed proctologist quip in there somewhere ... I'm sure its best left alone. lol

 

[Feraud]

Parochial schools still teach sentence structure.

 

[HepKitty]

The comedian Fred Allen always typed his correspondence in lower case. Someone asked him why, and he explained "I've never been able to shift for myself."

lol that's cute. I have no problems with manual transmissions though, just shift keys. In fact, I prefer them. Silly of me isn't it?

There's a failed proctologist quip in there somewhere ... I'm sure its best left alone. lol

THANK YOU lol

 

[Undertow]

There's a failed proctologist quip in there somewhere ... I'm sure its best left alone. lol

lol :eusa_clap

 

[Undertow]

...American English is even more bastardized- it's like you're talking in code.

lol Too true! I had a pretty good laugh with this one.