Peter,
   I think it's very important for us to make these distinctions. I
suspect your students are both eager and optimistic (nice word choices)
because they realize you are trying to help them along a difficult
path. We can do a better job of understanding how the grammar of speech
carries over into a written form, but that certainly requires more
conscious understanding than the minimalists are ready to admit.
  One key, for me, is the sense that I'm helping a student put his/her
natural resources to work. They can't just leave their language at the
door and try to learn a new one, and they can't afford to distrust it.
   Some aspects of writing are very arbitrary, but so much else involves
purposeful choice.

Craig>


 In a message dated 2/20/07 4:22:44 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>>    Error is very complex, and the notion of register often comes into
>> play
>> in places where we wouldn't think about "error".
>>
>
> Craig, you are certainly right about this.   And I would add that much
> error
> is not a problem with register but a lack of familiarity with the
> conventions
> of writing.   I don't think apostrophe errors, sentence boundary errors,
> or
> confusion between homophones is related to register or class but simply is
> the
> result of not enough experience with texts either as writers or readers.
> And
> I do feel an obligation to my eager and unbelievably optimistic students
> to
> help them master these conventions.
>
>
>
> Peter Adams
>
>
>
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