I certainly hope that we are "up against" mass media. When I met
Edwin Newman, I asked him how he felt about being an anachronist.
When he queried my question, I explained that he was both a newsman
and literate. He laughed, but offered Saffire and Buckley as other
examples, which I rejected because they were columnists--not newsmen.
I added that there was a vicious rumor that Edwin Newman stooped so
low as to research and write his own news broadcasts--when they were
not impromptu. He stated that he did not do all of his primary research
himself but did review it critically; he admitted writing his own scripts.
In the early 60's, one could be fired from the Orlando Sentinel for errors
in grammar and spelling and reprimanded for initial errors in punctuation;
repetition could also bring termination. Once newspapers went to having the
reporters' inputting their copy directly (bypassing the proofreaders),
political correctness averred that the reporters were hired for their
ability to report, not for their grammar, punctuation, and usage. When I
began teaching, I used the Orlando Sentinel as an example of good writing;
when I was at a Mensa party in Los Angeles a couple of decades later, an
editor of the LA Times overheard my saying that I was teaching writing
skills to a predominantly Hispanic class at a business school and asked
whether I was using LA Times in my class. I replied, Absolutely! No matter
what error I am teaching them to avoid, I always have been able to find it
on the front page or editorial page of the LA Times. He them stomped away.
Scott Catledge
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ATEG automatic digest system
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 12:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ATEG Digest - 8 Jan 2008 to 10 Jan 2008 (#2008-3)
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:32:09 -0800
From: Michael Kischner <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Commas in compound sentences
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I'm wondering how many people are still teaching that placing a comma before
a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence is the rule and omitting
the comma is the exception? I have been reading through mostly fiction
books for elementary and middle school readers, and in those books it is
certainly the other way around. So in teaching kids at those levels to use
the comma, we are up against most of what they see in print.
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