Wilson and other grammarians, have at it! Click inside!

[Lavabe]

I am from Cairo, Illinois. It is not pronounced KAY-ro. Care-oh is more like it. Across the river is Cadiz and you got that one right. Across the other river is New MADrid, Missouri. Afew miles north of Care-oh is Vienna. Yep, you guessed it ... Vye-annah! We got a million of 'em.

Love, Ima

I stand corrected, but you forget that Kay-ro is how it's pronounced at least in these parts in Kentucky. Also, my brother in Paducah says Kay-ro, but that may be his inability to deal with the regional accent there.

[Lavabe]

Oy vey! This thread is giving me a headache.

Tilly using Yiddish is a real treat. It's making me a little verklempt.

[CathyCA]

So, here's what I sent to the principal:

Dear Ms. "Principal:"

I am enclosing a copy of the letter that Ms. NotTennant sent home to parents last week. I have not discussed this matter with Ms. NotTennant, and I have hesitated to approach you with my concerns because this is an extremely sensitive personnel matter. I also hesitate to approach you with my concerns for fear of retaliation against my child, with whom I have not discussed this matter. However, I am flabbergasted that the person who published the attached grammatical mess is certified to teach English language arts to my son and to his classmates, and so I come to you confidentially to share my concerns.

I comprehend the gist of the message this letter is conveying. The problem is that the person who wrote this letter is supposed to be teaching proper English grammar and construction to my child. By way of example, I can point out a few of the many regrettable errors contained in Ms. NotTennant’s letter:

· In paragraph 2, she used the possessive “student’s” instead of the plural “students.”

· The second sentence in paragraph 2 is awkward. A better way to write this sentence would be: “Exposure to different genres of literature will enhance students’ knowledge of literature and will encourage them to become more well-rounded readers.” In the teacher’s original sentence, she used both the singular and the plural form of “student.” The teacher should choose whether she is referring to one student or to a group of students, and should stick with either the singular or the plural in a paragraph, and certainly in a sentence.

· In paragraph 3, she used the reflexive pronoun “myself” incorrectly. Additionally, the teacher wrote that sentence in passive voice.

· In paragraph 4, the teacher began the sentence by using third person singular (he/she) and then finished the sentence incorrectly by using the third person plural pronoun (they) to refer to its antecedent (he/she).

I learned many of these rules in my own seventh grade English language arts class thirty-five years ago. I do not expect that Ms. NotTennant would use White & Strunk’s Elements of Style to teach English to her seventh grade students, but I do expect that she would model the correct usage of the grammar she is supposed to be teaching when she sends letters to the parents of her students. Quite frankly, this letter is representative of your school, and it does not reflect positively on your faculty and staff.

I intend to work closely with my son at home on his English language arts homework. I will be closely monitoring the assignments and assisting him throughout the year. Please understand that I am trying to strike a very delicate balance here by providing him with instruction at home, while attempting to uphold the authority and respect that his teacher deserves, ex officio, by virtue of her position. I do not intend to undermine Ms. NotTennant, but I do intend to ensure that my child learns seventh grade English language arts, whether or not his teacher has a passing grasp of the curriculum.

Is there a way that you can help Ms. NotTennant? Can you proofread her communications before she sends them? Is there a remedial class or workshop that she can attend? Is there a mentoring program available to provide her with an experienced, knowledgeable mentoring teacher? Is there a solution to this problem?

I thank you in advance for your kind assistance, cooperation, and sensitivity in responding to my concerns.

Very truly yours,

CathyCA

Well done.

But you should italicize ex officio as foreign terms are supposed to be italicized. Also, although it is acceptable to underline a title, that is falling out of favour (due to word processors making it easy to italicize) and titles should now be italicized rather than underlined.

Colchar, I absolutely do know that the Latin term "ex officio" (literally, "by virtue of the position") should be italicized, and I am looking at a copy of my letter to the principal. The italics in my original letter didn't transfer from my word processing program to here when I copied and pasted. I was trying so hard to remove the teacher's name from this cut and paste job, that I missed reformatting the italics.

Please accept my apologies for the oversight.

[cl15876]

"quote="Lavabe""...has visited the Louvre (in Paris, France... we haven't checked if there's one in Paris, Kentucky ;) )..."/quote"What about Versailles (pronounced "Ver-SALES"), Kentucky? Been there yet?

Yes, and I've also been to Cadiz (pronounced KAY-deez), Kentucky and Cairo (pronounced KAY-ro), Illinois.

I wish people in Irvine California would learn how to pronounce it properly 'Irv-in'. It is named after a town in Scotland and 'in' is the correct pronunciation.

Hey .... isn't that pronounced ERRRRvan, or more appropriately ERRR-VINE!!!!

[cl15876]

Oy vey! This thread is giving me a headache.

Tilly using Yiddish is a real treat. It's making me a little verklempt.

Very good catch!!!! It didn't come to me fast enough professor!!!!

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I am from Cairo, Illinois. It is not pronounced KAY-ro. Care-oh is more like it. Across the river is Cadiz and you got that one right. Across the other river is New MADrid, Missouri. Afew miles north of Care-oh is Vienna. Yep, you guessed it ... Vye-annah! We got a million of 'em.

Love, Ima

I stand corrected, but you forget that Kay-ro is how it's pronounced at least in these parts in Kentucky. Also, my brother in Paducah says Kay-ro, but that may be his inability to deal with the regional accent there.

Well, care-oh is how it's been pronounced IN Cairo ever since I was born there nearly 70 years ago. I also have family in Paducah. That's a great little town with what really, really IS the best BBQ restaurant I have EVER run across between here and KY. But, that's another thread.
Love, Ima

[Lavabe]

I am from Cairo, Illinois. It is not pronounced KAY-ro. Care-oh is more like it. Across the river is Cadiz and you got that one right. Across the other river is New MADrid, Missouri. Afew miles north of Care-oh is Vienna. Yep, you guessed it ... Vye-annah! We got a million of 'em.

Love, Ima

I stand corrected, but you forget that Kay-ro is how it's pronounced at least in these parts in Kentucky. Also, my brother in Paducah says Kay-ro, but that may be his inability to deal with the regional accent there.

Well, care-oh is how it's been pronounced IN Cairo ever since I was born there nearly 70 years ago. I also have family in Paducah. That's a great little town with what really, really IS the best BBQ restaurant I have EVER run across between here and KY. But, that's another thread.
Love, Ima

HOLD ON... you don't make a statement like that without naming the BBQ place:
Starnes? D Starnes?
Backwoods?
Country Castle?
Or the guy in his van who sells BBQ by the Dairyette?

[ArkieDukie]

Nice job with the letter, Cathy. It will, indeed, be interesting to see what type of response you receive.

[colchar]

Colchar, I absolutely do know that the Latin term "ex officio" (literally, "by virtue of the position") should be italicized, and I am looking at a copy of my letter to the principal. The italics in my original letter didn't transfer from my word processing program to here when I copied and pasted. I was trying so hard to remove the teacher's name from this cut and paste job, that I missed reformatting the italics.

Please accept my apologies for the oversight.

Formatting when copying and pasting here never even crossed my mind. I should've realized that might have been an issue.

[colchar]

Hey .... isn't that pronounced ERRRRvan, or more appropriately ERRR-VINE!!!!

Nope, most definitely not!

[bjornolf]

Hey .... isn't that pronounced ERRRRvan, or more appropriately ERRR-VINE!!!!

Nope, most definitely not!

You should visit Central Virginia, where Staunton is pronounced "Stan-tin" and Buena Vista is pronounced "Byune-ah Viss-tah". ;)

[TillyGalore]

CathyCA, any updates?

[CathyCA]

CathyCA, any updates?

"We" have a 1000 word report due on Thursday. My English-teacher-Mom and I will proofread this thing with a fine-toothed comb. It WILL be a masterpiece, so we'll be prepared for the teacher's comments.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

CathyCA, any updates?

"We" have a 1000 word report due on Thursday. My English-teacher-Mom and I will proofread this thing with a fine-toothed comb. It WILL be a masterpiece, so we'll be prepared for the teacher's comments.

OOOOOh, this IS getting GOOD! How long do you think we'll have to wait for the grade to come back?
Love, Ima
PS No word back from the principal?

[throatybeard]

Being an educated layperson with a fetish for prescriptive style does not make one a "grammarian."

[cl15876]

Being an educated layperson with a fetish for prescriptive style does not make one a "grammarian."

Apparently the shoe fits, so .... ;)

[throatybeard]

The shoe doesn't fit in the least.

A lot of people who know very little about language shoot their mouths off about it just because they know that we have different orthographic conventions for "your and "you're." This doesn't mean they have much metalinguistic knowledge at all. They merely like to act superior to other people, without having any knowledge of their own about how language actually works. This happens in every culture; the upper middle class of the dominant group (white people, in ours) conflate writing with their own oral usage, and their own oral usage with a socially constructed innerrancy that has nothing to do with how language actually works.

[wilson]

The shoe doesn't fit in the least.

A lot of people who know very little about language shoot their mouths off about it just because they know that we have different orthographic conventions for "your and "you're." This doesn't mean they have much metalinguistic knowledge at all. They merely like to act superior to other people, without having any knowledge of their own about how language actually works. This happens in every culture; the upper middle class of the dominant group (white people, in ours) conflate writing with their own oral usage, and their own oral usage with a socially constructed innerrancy that has nothing to do with how language actually works.

Well, thanks for the cold shower, throaty. I frankly don't appreciate some of your above insinuations, and I submit that my "metalinguistic knowledge" is actually pretty darned good, thank you very much. As for your pronunciations of people "liking to act superior to other people," well, that's just fairly dripping with irony.
Remind us again why you keep coming back here with shit like this?

[devildeac]

The shoe doesn't fit in the least.

A lot of people who know very little about language shoot their mouths off about it just because they know that we have different orthographic conventions for "your and "you're." This doesn't mean they have much metalinguistic knowledge at all. They merely like to act superior to other people, without having any knowledge of their own about how language actually works. This happens in every culture; the upper middle class of the dominant group (white people, in ours) conflate writing with their own oral usage, and their own oral usage with a socially constructed innerrancy that has nothing to do with how language actually works.

Translation, please... :roll:

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Did I say OOOOh this is getting good?
Love, Ima