Showing posts with label grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grammar. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Your Telling The Truth
Grammar is going from bad to worse. A student friend of mine got a B on a recent papre because while the content was an A the grammar was a C. Bad grammar can be grating to thus of us with good grammar. But I shouldn't cast stones. My grammar, when correct, is pretty instinctive, not conscious. I do what looks or sounds right and I probably get about an A- level of correctness. Which was my overall high school GPA. Nowadays, if one grows up texting and IM-ing, where speed and brevity trump grammar, and in an age when computers correct spelling, it's no wonder. But I think I'm old-school enough I prefer "your" and "you're" to be used in the traditional way rather than "your" for both.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Last Days
I am on the MARTA train heading to Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta Airport. Thanks to my Blackberry, I am mobile blogging.
There's some great graffiti on view from the train on the North-South Line. In fact, Hense and Sever have got to be old men by now, because I've seen their tags what feels like all my life.
I was going to mock one paricular graffiti message but I stopped myself for two reasons. 1. See previous post and 2. I reconsidered the meaning.
This particular work is not a tag, but a message which says "The Last Days Has Arrived." Now, at first I was struck by the bad grammar. And I know, I know, correcting grammar is really annoying to people. I get it. Technically a plural noun (days) should be followed by a verb that reflects this (in this case, have arrived).
But, upon consideration, the Last Days as recorded in the Christian Bible are, in a way, one thing, not many. The Last Days is the time before Christ returns. And while it's multiple 24 hour periods, it is, in a way, one era/time unified by anticipation (and, perhaps, a lot of crazy scary stuff). The Bible promises both signs that show it's coming (as obvious as storm clouds foretell the weather) and surprise when Christ appears (like a thief in the night). I can't quite wrap my brain around it all. Maybe the graffiti artist is right grammatically and temporally and spiritually. Time will tell, I guess.
There's some great graffiti on view from the train on the North-South Line. In fact, Hense and Sever have got to be old men by now, because I've seen their tags what feels like all my life.
I was going to mock one paricular graffiti message but I stopped myself for two reasons. 1. See previous post and 2. I reconsidered the meaning.
This particular work is not a tag, but a message which says "The Last Days Has Arrived." Now, at first I was struck by the bad grammar. And I know, I know, correcting grammar is really annoying to people. I get it. Technically a plural noun (days) should be followed by a verb that reflects this (in this case, have arrived).
But, upon consideration, the Last Days as recorded in the Christian Bible are, in a way, one thing, not many. The Last Days is the time before Christ returns. And while it's multiple 24 hour periods, it is, in a way, one era/time unified by anticipation (and, perhaps, a lot of crazy scary stuff). The Bible promises both signs that show it's coming (as obvious as storm clouds foretell the weather) and surprise when Christ appears (like a thief in the night). I can't quite wrap my brain around it all. Maybe the graffiti artist is right grammatically and temporally and spiritually. Time will tell, I guess.
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