8.04.2010

OMST in a huff


My dear DemWit:

Thank you for sending the LINK to Parsley’s Pics and your friend Leslie’s post on the grammatically challenged Tennessee gubernatorial candidate.

Honey, that one blew my crinolines up!

The candidate’s claim of 13 3/4 years of education speaks volumes about the inadequacies of our education system. Is this a trend among candidates to emulate the Texas goober who spent eight years in the Oval Office?

Leslie's post and this headline on gallup.com this morning jarred me into writing:

“Assessing the Affect of the Afghanistan Documents Leak”

How hard is it to remember: AFFECT is a verb. EFFECT is a noun. This headline affected my blood pressure, and I hope it has the same effect on DemWit’s readers!

Equally painful is the attempt to be so grammatically precise that one gets it wrong. Here’s an example of a common error that drives me NUTS!

The candidate handed his brochure to Mary and I.

Leave out the other recipient:

Wrong: The candidate handed his brochure to I.
Right: The candidate handed his brochure to me.

Such a simple test, but I see this error constantly!

I must remember to write more often, my dear. I think the kids running all these online news sites must come off an assembly line in Atlanta.

Stay cool.

Respectfully,

OMST

5 comments:

Frodo, on the assembly line, said...

13 3/4 years of education in Tennessee schools is like a day without sunshine.

Leslie Parsley said...

OMST: Laughing out loud. Monica Crowley on the McLaughlin Group is always saying something similar to, "George gave it to he and I." I quit watching it because she was making me cringe and because of "he" as well.

It ain't just the kids on online news sites. I see it in newspapers and hear it on TV all the time.

Leslie Parsley said...

I'd just like to ad that there are words that cause me problems - lose, loose for example - but I look them up and don't rely on SpellCheck. Sometimes, I'll keep Word minimalized just so I can quickly check the grammar and usage. Due to the dyslexic side of my brain, I have to do this repeatedly for the same blasted word or phrase.

Annelle said...

Welcome back OMST!! These are the same things that make me cringe,and most of the people who say them should know better.

Tiny said...

Has Basil called Jenny Craig yet?

Is he the one who prints these religious lawn signs:

"You must except Jesus to be saved"

"We prey for our schools"

Yes, inadequate education takes its toll on society. Tiny thinks schools are long over due for bringing back remedial reading, spelling and congegation of verbs to the classrooms.

Tiny cannot remember the last time she read a newspaper article that wasn't full of grammatical and spelling errors.

OMST, crack your whip and get these whippersnappers back to teaching the basics of education.