Grammer

I’m sure a lot of you aren’t even aware that the title has been terribly misspelt. And yes, that’s with 2 s’s. I don’t know if it’s a blog trend to suck at grammar and make sure you wouldn’t ever be mistaken as a contestant of the Spelling Bee, but it drives me crazy! It’s the sole reason why I lose patience while reading blogs.

I could understand if people were just born dumb. Then it’s not their fault. Or if English wasn’t their language of conversation or writing, then they’re not to blame. As much as I hate it, I can still tolerate people writing ‘might’ as ‘mite’ or ‘cool’ as ‘kewl’. Typos I can deal with to some extent too; though at a click of a button you can ‘spell-check’. But these days, with everyone leading such hurried lives, an attempt to make writing “easier” is understandable, I guess. However, because the Internet has made a fad out of writing words so that they only vaguely resemble the words concerned, people tend to make basic errors that they obviously would have been reprimanded for had they passed 3rd grade. And that’s just pitiful.

I remember a particular incident that haunts me to this day. A guy once said to me “If you girls keep dieting the way you do, you’re all going to look emancipated.” I almost gagged. Now, it’s okay if you don’t know what 'emancipated' means. It’s okay if you don’t know what 'emaciated' means. It’s also okay if you don’t know why I gagged. However, it’s not okay to use words, if you don’t know how to in a sentence, to prove your English prowess, because that’s just darn selfish of you. Somebody may not be aware that you’re using the wrong word and may go on to assume his or her own meaning to the word ‘emancipated’. After all, the invention of the dictionary has long since become a lost cause. The updated versions are a joke. They include every combination of letters possible. It’s not going to get any easier than this to play Scrabble. All that’s left to be included are the Internet acronyms – ttyl, brb, asl!

Maybe ten years down the line, the English language will be absolutely devoid of grammar, considering the way the language is being bastardized by the youth. But as long as there remains a semblance of sense in the language, let’s all try to be respectful of it, shall we?

Today’s lesson is going to be short and simple.

1. The Smiths’ house always looks clean. They’re (not* there or their) neat-freaks.

2. I like you. Your (not* you’re or ewer) eyes are beautiful.

I promise you that once you get a hang of these two simple sentences, you will feel better about yourself. You’re also less likely to be scoffed at by an English professor if you ever happen to crave to see what one looks like.

You’re most welcome.

*(not knot, naught, gnaw it or gnawed)