Linda,
Certainly this misplaced apostrophe is a shibboleth, or you wouldn't have noted it, and the teacher needs to be informed. If it's presented as a slip or a proof-reading error, it could be done in passing.
However, it's also worth noting that the modern apostrophe usage rules aren't very old, only going back to the mid 19th c. This particular usage even has a name, at least in British usage, "the greengrocer's apostrophe," such as one might see on a store sign: "fresh pear's". There was some discussion of it several years back on the American Dialect Society list, and if you google it you'll find lots of discussion of it.
I'm uncomfortable with your administrative solution, as well as it might work as a transitional policy. It seems to make the assumption that grammar is so specialized that we shouldn't expect all teachers to be competent in it.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Linda DiDesidero
Sent: Fri 5/12/2006 6:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question re: introducing grammar
My daughter's third grade teacher made name tags for the parents at Back To
School Night. Ours read " Parent's of Samantha". Well, it was possessive,
right? I've had several notes, etc. come home from teachers with astounding
deviations from Standard English (to include sentence fragments, comma
splices, misuse of semi-colon, confusion of their/there, affect/effect, etc.)
While I do not think that everyone should have perfect expression of Standard
English, I do wonder: If some elementary school teachers are not sure about
usage, how could they teach usage rules to our kids? And certainly, many
teachers are proficient at using and teaching Standard English, but many are not.
I agree that training is the issue. (A good approach to this might be to
have a team grammar teacher who knew what she was talking about, and could
'train' teachers and students together.)
Linda
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
