Here's how I tackle grammatical instruction:

Every week, we devote a day to analyzing a student paper.  We rip it 
apart.  Students find errors.  We find a rule that is violated with that 
error.  Then, we classify that rule into one of two types of rules.  It 
is either steadfast or dependent -- meaning it is a rule that must 
always be followed or if it is a rule that is dependent on context.  
Most rules are dependent.  Quotation marks around quotes would be 
steadfast.  Most spelling conventions are steadfast, but not all.  For 
example, which is right -- dialog or dialogue?  Grey or gray?  Why?  
Certainly not steadfast and at least with dialog and dialogue we could 
possibly change it depending on context.  And this follows with almost 
all of the grammatical conventions.  Even using "ain't" could be 
acceptable when writing dialogue, unless it's a dialog box. 

Peter Adams wrote:
> Elizabeth's question about -ly endings on adverbs of manner raises an 
> even broader question: how are we as teachers to decide when some 
> "rule" of grammar is no longer in effect.  Most of us don't want to be 
> in the role of defending archaic rules that no longer describe the 
> living, evolving language, but we also do want to make sure our 
> students learn the conventions that will stigmatize their writing when 
> violated.
>
> Two examples I've wondered about lately:  "try and" has appeared twice 
> in recent weeks in the New York Times.  Should I abandone my efforts 
> to convince my students that "try to" is preferable?  And the 
> apostrophe seems to be disappearing in some constructions: Veterans 
> Administration, for example. 
>
> Many on this list have poked fun at those who cling to archaic rules 
> about splitting infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions, 
> are "try and" and the optional apostrophe approaching the same 
> status?  How will we know when they arrive there?
>
>
>
> Peter Adams
>
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-- 

James Sebastian Bear
Montpelier Public School
www.montpelier.k12.nd.us/classroom.html

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