What Bothers You?

Let me warn you, this is a rant!  This is one of my most favorite “pet peeves.”  So, if you are not ready for a rant, today – just stop reading.  You may have heard some of this before; but, I ask your indulgence – please bear with me.

There are certain things that bother me.  Yes, believe it or not, there are things that BOTHER ME! 

Sister Clara says that I should just turn my head the other way and ignore those things.  Well, I can’t.  Some things are just wrong.  WRONG!  Occasionally, I speak up to see if someone will make those things right.  It is difficult to ignore things that we’ve lived with all of our lives and that other people have  taken it upon themselves to corrupt.

Objects of prepositions must be objective case – not nominative case.  Example:  Mom gave the presents to John and I.  WRONG!  It should read, Mom gave the presents to John and me.  John and me being the object of the preposition “to.”  So many of the script writers whose work is displayed for all to see and hear on the Hallmark channels don’t seem to understand this requirement (I don’t know about the other channels – I don’t watch them).  This may be difficult for some.  However, it is easy to figure out when the speaker/writer removes the name of the first person in the phrase.  Here’s the example for that:  Mom gave the presents to me.  We’d never say, Mom gave the presents to I.  And, it works for any preposition.  Prepositions such as under, over, for – I could go on.

“ Yesterday, me and Tom went to town.”  What happened to putting the other person first?  Somewhere in my education, it was always, “ Yesterday, Tom and I went to town.”  (Even changing the pronoun.”  As the object of a preposition, it could be, “Uncle Harry gave the dog to Tom and me.”  No change of pronoun here.

Pronouns:  “that her and her mom have a magic about them.”   No!  “It should be that SHE and her mom …”  Drop the “and her mom,” and it becomes “that she had a magic …”

And, then, there is “of.”  One of my favorite little words.  This tiny word seems to have been dropped out of our vocabulary.  Oh, of course, it is used once in a while.   I miss seeing and hearing “of.”  Example:  “… we did this all the time.”  I mentally put the “of” into the sentence when reading – “… we did this all of the time.”  There are so many examples that I could fill a book with them, but I won’t.

Subject and verb agreement certainly has lost its way.  Folks who should be the best of the best when it comes to writing and speaking seem to have no understanding of this concept.  Singular subjects are so often written with plural verbs.  Example:  “The eldest of our children want to go to town.”  No!  Eldest is singular.  Want is plural.  It should read, “The eldest of our children wants to go to town.”  Eldest – singular.  Wants – singular.  Want – plural.  The confusion appears to be that “children” (not the subject but, rather the object of the preposition) is mistaken as the subject of the sentence.  This confusion is apparent in newspapers, magazine articles, television movies, television newscasts – I could go on.  Doesn’t anyone edit or proof this work?  Or, perhaps, editors and other people who proofread don’t understand these constructs, either.

Then, I wonder about the actors or reporters who actually read and/or perform this stuff.  They just go ahead and read or speak what is in front of them on the page.  I wonder if anyone ever, at that stage, says, “This isn’t correct.  It needs to be changed.”

As an educator, I know that I may be somewhat more aware of these confusions (and picky about them).  I remember an eighth-grade teacher – a Mrs. Miller – who taught English.  Boy, did she teach English!  We had no text book.  We had notebooks.  Every Monday was spent with Mrs. Miller dictating sentences for our work for the week.  We learned about subjects, predicates, verbs, prepositions – all of that.  The constructs that make up our English language.  During the week, we had specific exercises using those sentences. 

We also were required to, by Friday, recite a poem or essay chosen by Mrs. Miller and also dictated on Monday.  Frost, Thoreau, Lincoln, and others.  Today, when I hear snippets of those poems or essays, I remember.  I can even recite parts of them.  Even when I cannot recite the entire poem or essay, I feel related to its being.

In high school, it was Miss Tookey whose diligence taught more English.  It was with Miss Tookey that I learned to write – really write.  It seems that so much of that sophomore year was spent writing.  Analyzing works by John Steinbeck and writing essays about them.  Reading “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare and writing an essay about it.  Writing, writing, writing.  And, not just once.  Miss Tookey read those essays, bled all over them in red ink, gave them back for revision after revision until we “got it right.”  I’ve often wondered what college would have been like if I had not had classes with Miss Tookey.

I’ve always credited these two teachers with my abilities to write – and for my love of reading and writing.  They were instrumental in the early 1950s for making me the student that I was and am, today.

No longer being in the education scene, I often wonder what is being taught.  In fact, much of what I experience in watching TV, listening to radio, and reading I attribute to what is NOT being taught today.

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.