E38 On Being Perfect

As a teacher, I have been accused of expecting perfection of myself and of my students.  Well, I do belive in striving for perfction, but I don't expect to achieve it, not in this life, and not every time.

I do expect a student to be willing to try again to improve.  I have found that my habit is a three-step learning process: 1) I make a mistake.  2) I make it again, remember having done it before, and tell myself not to do it again. 3) Catch myself in the error before I make it again. (I hope.) 

But I am not surprised that I make mistakes the first times I try a new or difficult activity.  And I am not surprised that a student makes mistakes on new material or skills. 

As with physical skills such as are needed for playing sports or playing a musical instrument, writing skills require practice and repetition because writing is not as easy as speaking.  Remember that a score of 80% marks mastery of a skill.  Strive for 100% and you may hit 80%, but settling for 50% will not allow you to move with grace and freedom on the 'court' of written communication.

Check this out:
http://www.delanceyplace.com/view_archives.php?1781

E37 Double Negative No No

What’s Wrong with This?: Double Negatives

In English the rule is not to use the double negative.

She refused not to help.

The word ‘refused’ contains the idea of the negative.  The idea in full would be “She refused to help”.

I miss not seeing him.

Do you see him now?   If you do see him, this is correct.  If you do not see him, you mean to say “I miss seeing him.”

Why Learn Grammar?

I could not have expressed it better.

I teach a course on thesis writing to Chemistry graduate students, and always refer students to AWAD for daily inspiration. The "Some assembly required" joke gave me an unoriginal idea as well.

Your atomic analogy for the theme of the week resonated with me. The following extract is from a public radio commentary on chemistry and words. I thought you might find it amusing: While the sizes, shapes, and functionalities of molecules are infinitely variable, just as a mouthful of words can be strung together to form a two-word matrimonial confirmation, or a dizzyingly long soliloquy, there are rules of bonding that constitute a molecular grammar. For instance, "I do!" and "Do I?" will elicit vastly different emotional responses, but "He do." is not allowed. Correspondingly, the three-atom chains chlorine-oxygen-hydrogen and oxygen-chlorine-hydrogen are allowed, but have quite different chemistries, whereas chlorine-hydrogen-oxygen is not allowed. The entire commentary is online.

Preston MacDougall, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

You will meet many interesting people and ideas at: http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html

WHY IS GRAMMAR IMPORTANT? Reading Between the Lines

Grammar is all about meaning.  Children are frustrated no end when adults ask them to "read between the lines".  Knowing the context and the specific situation enables the adult to understand beyond the expressed words.  It is said that women do this better than men, but definitely adults do it better than children who are not as well-read nor have the life experience.

And understanding the difference between the Active Voice as opposed to the Passive Voice, taught in Grade 10, helps you read between the lines that the perpetrator is a) unknown or b) known but being hidden.
Here is what I wrote for Facebook:
Why is learning grammar important? Note the use of the Passive Voice in this interview: "a decision was made". This indicates that the person who made the decision is either unknown or known and being hidden. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7300