Too many "educated" will applaud your first sentence and call you a bigot
for your second.
How dare you assert that the way people speak and write naturally is less
than perfect.
Did we teach in the same school in LA? I bluntly told my proofreading
students that many of
them were in the unusual situation of being both perfectly bilingual but
illiterate in both
languages (LA schools did not allow Hispanics to take regular Spanish
classes but failed to
offer special Spanish grammar and composition classes for Hispanics). In
defense of the LA
School district, the law required teachers in 70 Vietnamese languages, 60
Laotian, and,
fortunately, only 10 Cambodian languages--thanks to the large numbers of
speakers of Central
Khmer and secondarily of Western Cham. The biggest problem were the
Hmong--where the oral
culture was highly prized and valued over literacy: many Hmong academies
have sprung up to
develop teaching materials and encourage literacy. The District has focused
on Cantonese,
Tagalog, Korean, and Samoan with a single KEYS school in
Vietnamese--whatever that is--and
one in Japanese.
I was reviewing the hiring of an applicant and noted that he claimed to
speak Chinese, Swiss,
and Filipino (this was long before Manila renamed Tagalog). Because
language proficiency in
other than English had no bearing on his hire--he was highly unlikely to be
dealing with US
veterans in Las Vegas who did not speak fluent English--he was not
terminated for falsifying
an application; however, I did counsel him to be more accurate in future
applications. He was.
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of ATEG automatic digest system
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 12:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ATEG Digest - 12 Aug 2011 to 13 Aug 2011 (#2011-152)
There are 3 messages totalling 303 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. ATEG Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 12 Aug 2011 (#2011-151)
2. [BULK] Re: Usage question
3. a lot / alot
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Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 06:10:47 -0400
From: Scott Catledge <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: ATEG Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 12 Aug 2011 (#2011-151)
I always answered usage questions by pointing out that, although no one
could
require the preferred spelling (unless you were an employee), everyone
hiring
has the right to judge the degree and/or level of language formality when
verbal
expression, particularly written, is requisite to the position. The right
to
judge follows the Golden Rule: who has the gold makes the rules. I have
known
major employers (e.g., owners of newspapers) who would hire those who did
not use
"proper" English only for manual labor positions. Admittedly some sports
writers
refused to conform and, on some newspapers of my acquaintance, were able to
express
themselves as they wanted; others were edited by the proofreading
department--back
when they existed. I had a friend in college who wanted to be an English
teacher.
His advisor told him, "You can't spell, your grammar is poor, and your usage
is
atrocious. You had better major in journalism: you will not be accepted as
an
English major." I told him that he should brush up on sports but not
consider
Orlando as a good place to work: the Sentinel-Star was noted at the time for
its
zero tolerance for grammatical, usage, and spelling errors. Unfortunately
for him,
the student newspaper also has zero tolerance for grammatical, usage, and
spelling
errors. He ended up majoring in P.E.
Scott
You have the absolute right to express yourself as you choose: others have
the same
right to reject you and/or your product as inappropriate. Any teachers who
do not
alert their students to the possibility that their grammatical, usage, and
spelling
errors may impact their further education and careers is doing them a
disservice.
I had Hispanic Angelenos in my proofreading classes who had graduated from
high school
as functional illiterates--both in English and in Spanish. They felt anger
at having
bothered to attend classes for 12 years only to be limited to menial
jobs--they were
even rejected by skilled trade training programs because they lacked the
literacy to
read technical manuals. When they asked me why they were not taught
"proper" English
in high school, I evaded the question by suggesting that they ask their
teachers or
guidance counselors.
My preference is to give students knowledge and to let them make choices.
> I
> tell them that most educated writers (including the editors of almost=20
> every magazine, newspaper, and publishing house) use "all right" and=20
> not "alright," but the latter is used by a minority of writers, and=20
> its use may be growing. They can use "alright" if they like, but they=20
> can expect that a number of their readers may judge them on it. They=20
> might think twice before using "alright" in a college application=20
> essay or in a job application letter.
>
> Language is democratic, and if enough people join the "alright"=20
> bandwagon, it will become accepted the way "another" and "altogether" are=
accepted.
> Everyone is free to jump on that bandwagon, but it doesn't hurt to=20
> weigh the consequences.
>
> Dick
>
> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 2:06 PM, Castilleja, Janet <=20
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> If 'another' can be a word, why not 'alright'? I'm never marking=20
>> this wrong again.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Janet
>>
>
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