Punctuation

Eats, shoots & leaves _ I started reading this book last week while I was still lazing around by the pool. It’s a book on....wait for it........punctuation!

I know, what was I thinking? The English teacher at my sons’ school lent it to them, to help improve English writing. Don’t laugh at me for saying this but it is a lovely little book, honestly! 

The writer is a stickler for grammar, and rightly so she is a writer. She hates that people use the apostrophe in the wrong place or that they totally forget to use it. If you use this little thingy  ‘  in the wrong place it changes the meaning of a word and even the whole sentence. Here is a phrase from the book that she uses to prove that punctuation is everything!  

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Lovely isn’t it? I thought so too :)

I am sure I have used the apostrophe in the wrong place many times too. This book took me back to school and remimded me of when I was learning English, it has reminded me of my teachers and how they struggled to get me to pronounce certain words correctly never mind spelling and grammar. 

There are grammar rules for every language and the English language is no exception. I am not one that corrects people’s emails all the time and likes to point out grammatical errors. But sometimes it really does irritate me how some people write.

I can only really comment on the English language that is my first language although I speak & read Afrikaans and Portuguese writing in these two languages doesn't come naturally. I am also not a teacher or a writer or a stickler for the apostrophe or grammar but there is one thing that really drives me insane....

Huh? 

Huh? What language is that?
This was taken from some facebook comments I have seen (and there is plenty more where that came from) and this was simply a copy/paste job. I didn't change or add anything. Yes these comments are made by kids but I just can’t understand why they insist writing like this. The caps and lower case in the same word *argh* it's too much for me. 

Am I that old that the kids need to roll their eyes and tell me to ‘get a life’? My reply to them would be 'grow up'!

Honestly when I see this type of writing I try very hard to suppress actual screams. 

At work I take some time writing emails, check and double check that my tone is not aggressive or rude, I check spelling and then read again before sending. It's the same with this blog, takes a long time to put thoughts down in writing and I'm going to be a stickler with my writing from now on, making sure the 'apostrophe' and other important language and grammar pieces are always in the correct place. 

If you spot a mistake, please be nice, forgive me, I am learning and trying to forget years of bad habits.

  

   xoxo