Avoiding Grammar Pitfalls, By Roger Behra

SHORT COMMUNICATION 304

Avoiding Grammar Pitfalls

By

Roger Behra

As the counterculture movement and philosophy gained momentum one of the new effects that has become engrained in America’s culture is the incorrect way the English language is spoken and written. It is amazing to hear people with college degrees violate the correct rules of grammar. It has been very evident over the past several decades that this part of their philosophy has been successful where so many people murder the English language as they break the most common rules of basic grammar. Media sports personalities and their listeners who call in lead the list. They simply tell on themselves: that they are ignoramuses. And the ignoramuses start with teachers who do not do a good job of teaching English in the classroom.

Here is how you can tell when you know better. In matters of subject-verb agreement you will hear during the program in their articles that a plural subject is agreeing with a singular verb. A singular verb requires a singular verb. A plural subject requires a plural verb. And you will hear or read that the ignoramus has made the object of a preposition agree with the verb. That is never correct.

Ignoramuses are very ignorant of the verb tenses: present, past, future, and the use of past participle. The past participle always requires a helping verb. The forms of the verb to GO are: go, went, gone. The correct uses of these forms are as follows when used in a sentence: I go every morning to school. I went every day this week. I have gone every day this month. Next month I shall not go anymore to school.

An educated person who is not an ignoramus knows how to use correctly subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, and how to use the past participle. They know the long list of prepositions, prepositional phrases, and never use the object of a preposition to agree with the verb in a sentence.

Two verbs that educated ignoramus misuse are SIT and SET. You can really tell on yourself when these verbs are used.

SIT-to recline. I SIT here. You SIT there. Everyone must SIT quietly.
SET-to put or place. Jim, SET your bag here. John, SET yours there. Others SET here.

Educated ignoramuses have the explicit responsibility to use correct grammar when speaking and writing. There is no valid excuse for not doing so. They must stop telling on themselves that they are ignorant in the use of the English language. Otherwise, the diplomas and degrees that they have and wave have the word BOGUS stamped all over them.

R. B.
3-6-12