Grammar Nazis...

At school I was never ever good at English. I was an awesome student, with high high grades, but when it came to English class, I was always terrible.

But just because I was poor in English, doesn't mean that I don't have good ideas... it just means that I was just not exposed to the proper grammar or proper spelling or ways of writing beautiful essays. Actually, it's probably due to a combination of things:

1. English was my second language, but I never had proper training in English grammar at school. So all the English I learned was by interacting and listening to my friends and teachers - at home I spoke Polish.
2. I hated reading stories when I was young (instead I loved to do puzzles, math, science), and so I didn't learn the proper way of writing "naturally" from books.
3. My strong "math" genes led me toward math and away from the humanities. Also my parents really focused their time on teaching me the sciences and really didn't emphasize the humanities.

In some previous posts on this site (for example: Teacher Pay Scale Across Canada) I received many comments. Many of them were very controversial. Lots of teachers were complaining how little pay they get, while non-teachers were complaining about teachers, and how they always complain. These typical comments are repeated everywhere. I complained about teachers before I became one, and now that I'm a teacher, I start hearing myself complain as teachers typically do.

Anyway, the debate is constant and probably will never end, but some comments were not aimed at the content, but at the "English" language of teachers. For me, this is a very low class comment: it doesn't add to the discussion - instead it hits below the belt. It's similar to a comment: "I don't like your shirt." If you can understand the content, then why bother with the "grammar" lesson.

A blog is a very very informal article - and comments are not supposed to be edited as if they were a book. It's a discussion, very much like a real life conversation. And just like in a conversation, the flow of words comes naturally, and not all grammatical structures / laws are followed. Therefore "bad grammar" comments are useless and a pet peeve of mine.

I am writing this entry because of a recent comment by one of these "grammar Nazis". Here is what my sentence was: (If you want to play along, figure out what's wrong with it.)

"This last year, I was making $30,000 less in Quebec than if I was working as a teacher in Alberta."

Here is what a reader, Ray von Schmalz, wrote:

"...if I WAS working as a teacher in Alberta"? Hmmm, try "if I WERE working" and you may be worth your extra $30,000.

And here is what I answered:

I don't know why people are so into correcting other people about grammar. I never told anyone that I am an English "grammar" teacher. I am a math teacher, and I often make fun of myself in terms of my lack of knowledge in English (spelling and grammar). My students often have to tell me how to spell something, but I pride myself that I don't "pretend" I know everything. This weakness of mine shows them that I am human, and I can only know a certain amount of things - and perfect English is not one of them. But I don't think that this takes from my ability to be an awesome teacher... You really think that all teachers in Alberta know about the "subjunctive form" of "to be"?
By the way, I looked it up ( http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-subjunctive.htm), and "if I was...." as opposed to "if I were..." is the correct informal language. Only formal English grammar requires "if I were...". Since this blog is very informal, please excuse me from this oversight!

What do you think? Is proper grammar really all that important, especially when we're talking about a blog or comment on a blog? Or should the focus be on the content and not the appearance of intelligence in the form of proper English?

Submitted by bogusia on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 04:45

Hope you liked the post. Please do me a favour ...

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Comments

Submitted by Jenny
on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 15:25

Well, I do agree with Grammar Nazi in that "if I were" is the correct formal language. When I sing along to songs where the lyrics are "if I was," I change them to "if I were." (For example, in California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas, they sing "If I was in LA." I sing "If I were in LA.")

That being said, however, English is changing. Formal use of the language is almost archaic nowdays as people communicate through blogs/tweets/facebook and as more people adopt English as their second language. In this context, I believe that the greatest challenge is how to communicate effectively and succinctly. Part of that is through the use of correct grammar, but I think that it is more important to stress how to formulate, organize and present ideas. In this sense, learning English (i.e., learning to communicate well) is also very important for children who love science and math.

In the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, they say that if you are in a position to hire two equivalently qualified candidates, always hire the better writer: "That's because being a good writer is about more than words. Good writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else's shoes. They know what to omit. They think clearly. And those are the qualities you need."

So the question is, were you able to effectively communicate your point despite your grammatical lapse? I would argue yes. It's rare that a person doesn't understand what one means if one uses "if I was" instead "if I were."

Submitted by bogusia
on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 23:29

Jenny, I knew you would have something to say about this... you are one of "them", I know. You were the one that told me (and taught me at the same time) that "anyways" is not a word. I've never used anyways again. Thanks for the comment and being the "Devil's Advocate".

Submitted by Anonymous
on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 06:27

Although I agree you you about not necessarily needing to know everything about proper grammar and spelling, it does still bug me when people use improper grammar. I know that personally, I am not the best when it comes to spelling and all that English stuff, but when it comes to certain aspects of grammar, it bugs me to no end when people use it improperly. I find myself correcting people all the time when they spell or say something incorrectly. I feel that the generation we live in today has become too dependent on electronics for communication and it has made proper spelling and grammar unnecessary. In 10 or 15 years, people are going to be writing essays and exams containing all text lingo and shortened words. Do you really want to read papers that are written like "omg i m riting a test 4 u 2 grade n how gud my english is dont matter nemore lol." There will come a time when everyone writes like that, because of people ignoring the small grammatical errors. I know my grammar isn't perfect, but at least some people try.

Submitted by Madelene Wunner
on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 15:04

Its really great that you are sharing this information with us on the internet as many of them have a similar kind of problem which can be solved by joining the club. The English club will surely be helpful for the students, why students even different people whose English is poor will benefit from it. Good work!!
Regards,
Madelene-National Tattoo