Grammar Ignorance

I understand we are all sloths from time to time but there should be no excuse for ignorance of basic grammar. The grammar rules that I speak of are the most obvious and of first grade level.

Lack of capitalization of the first letter at the beginning of sentences; lack of periods to end sentences, in other words, run-on sentences; shortcut words, e.g. “u” instead of “you.”

If I am not mistaken, to have an account on ProgressiveU, you must be at least 14 years of age or older. Being age 14+ means one is either a freshman in high school or of a higher level.

Now, I wouldn’t claim that I am a guru of grammar. I am still learning how to use some punctuations properly, but at least I can say that I know when to (most of the time) to end my sentences. And, I don’t half-ass the spelling of my words. Shortcuts such as “u,” “r,” “4,” etc, should be restricted to private journals and/or text messages. Though, shortcuts via text messages still bother me.

Having proper grammar makes a read all the more enjoyable. The right punctuations will enable the reader to read the sentence as how the author intended it to be read. Otherwise, it may be misinterpreted. Also, if you don’t know how to spell a word, do what I do, http://www.dictionary.com or have a physical dictionary at your side.

Most of the blogs here on ProgressiveU have good grammar, but there is a fraction that don’t. These fraction of blogs do, however, have the problems that I stated in my second paragraph plague their writing. I am not entirely sure why, but when I see bad grammar to the extreme it just rubs me the wrong way, especially the slaughtering of grammar of the first grade level.

Rules for basic grammar: capitalization, when it is the beginning of a new sentence you must capitalize the first letter in the first word of the sentence; a correctly formulated sentence contains a subject and a predicate.

Some rules on uses of a few punctuations: The colon is used to “introduce a list, a summation, or an idea that somehow completes the introductory idea;” the semicolon is used to join independent clauses closely related in meaning; the comma has one too many uses so I won’t be getting into it, but if you don’t mind getting your hair in a tangle - http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/comma.html. There are more reasons to use a colon, semicolon or comma then the ones I stated above. I read a book pertaining to grammar and it listed a few more other uses for colons, semicolons, and commas. For more in-depth understanding- and hair tangling, head on over to the library nearest to you.

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