Grammar Punk Blog

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Yesterday Grammar Punk Creator, high school teacher, Sam Beeson appeared on a local television show talking about our favorite subject: the sorry state of grammar in everyday use. And we’re not just talking about kids, shoddy grammar is becoming epidemic.

It’s easy to pshaw the concept of proper language usage once you’re out of school and no one is grading your papers any longer. Bad idea. Writing—which is why we teach grammar in the first place—is communication. Go watch the video, Sam is very entertaining–yes, even talking about grammar!

Sam had a great time on the show and the hosts were great fun. Thanks to all the viewers who tuned in. Grammar Punk rules!

Here is a snapshot of what Sam talked about as well as a link to the show itself.

People slur. We mumble. Sometimes we say things incorrectly, but we understand one another. Because writing requires exactness, the things we say often need to be corrected when they hit the page. The following ten examples clarify some of the frequent oral offenders:

Should of: Incorrect.
Should have: Correct!

Anyways: No such thing.
Anyway: Correct!

Acrossed: Just plain wrong.
Across: Correct!

Alot: Nope.
A lot: Correct!

Alright: No. No.
All right: Correct!

Grammer: Commonly misspelled
Grammar: Correct!

Judgement: Misspelled
Judgment: Correct!

Quote / Quotation: Quote is a verb. Quotation is a noun. This commonly misused term happens daily in classrooms. Teachers erroneously say, “Write down this quote, then respond to it,” or “One of my favorite quotes is this: ‘to be or not to be.’” The correct thing to say is, “I am going to quote my favorite quotation which is this: ‘to be or not to be.’”

Good / Well: These two words may be the two most misused words in the English language. Good is an adjective. It can only modify nouns and pronouns. Well is an adverb. It can only modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

I scored good on my spelling test. (incorrect) The new car runs good. (incorrect)

Both need to be replaced with well.

English: Always capitalize the word English. Always, always, always.

And finally, Grammarsam reminds us to know where to go for punctuation help.

Punctuation often gets in the way (through its absence or superabundance) of the content. Never allow poor punctuation skills to thwart your reader from reading. EVERYONE should have someone they trust who can proofread well, and give honest feedback. Beyond a human helper, the following Web site and book are my bread and butter as a teacher of English. They answer all my questions when it comes to grammar and punctuation:

Web site: grammarpunk.com (wonderful local resource and blog with FAQ and easy-to-use, inexpensive curriculum)

www.grammarpunk.com

Teaching Grammar With Alliteration, Deux

I told you I love alliteration. As we’ve already established, alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or on the stressed syllables. Giving students the tool of alliteration in the context of teaching grammar will open the door to a new way of looking at writing—and reading. Alliteration is one of the oldest rhetorical devices, an early stab at poetry that is pleasing to the tongue and the ear. It’s fun! And as fun as it is to read, it’s even more fun—and easy—to write.

The really great thing about alliteration is how it pushes, prods, and propels not only student imagination but student vocabulary. The second cool thing about alliteration is that there is no age limitation. The youngest students can glom onto this concept with enthusiasm. Even the simplest words can be joined in an alliterative allegory. Give it a go!

Once students have tried their hand at twistingly twining tongue twisters, move on to temptingly tantalizing tall tales of tomes. Think Seuss, think Poe, think Pooh!   

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

Oh the Places You’ll Go –Dr. Seuss

This is not to say that effective alliteration is simply a string of words beginning with the same letter or sound; there can definitely be too much of a good thing. The key to having fun with alliteration without pushing it to the limit of human endurance is to temper it with regular speak.

The Grammar Punk Programs and our incredible Constructing Writers Kit offer lessons and cards to introduce your students to the joys of alliteration.

Grammar Punk Alliterative Tale To Be

Always a tad whimsically weird, Gwendolyn was nevertheless a particularly popular porcupine. Thus, when she set off with great abandon and alacrity on her journey she had quite a cadre of compatriots ready to join the adventure.

Share your alliteration with us!

www.grammarpunk.com

Teaching Grammar with Alliteration

Alliteration is one of my favorite rhetorical devices; probably because it fits so well into so many other rhetorical devices. Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or on the stressed syllables. Alliteration gives a poetic or literary effect. Alliteration is also referred to as “head rhyme.”

Alliteration is also great fun when it comes to teaching grammar, and anything that adds fun is a good thing.

Alliteration is fun to teach because it’s fun to learn. Challenge your students to an alliterate-off by introducing a sampling of tongue twisters, a wonderful—and fun—example of alliteration. Once students are comfortable with the concept, challenge them to create their own tongue twisters. Then once they’ve come up with a bunch—and you’ll be surprised at how easy, not to mention fun it is—have them read the tongue twisters aloud. As fast as possible, of course.

Alliteration rocks!

pre·var·i·cate

/prɪˈvær ɪˌkeɪt /  [pri-var-i-keyt]  

–verb (used without object), -cat·ed, -cat·ing.

to speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately misstate or create an incorrect impression; lie.

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Origin:
1575–85; < L praevāricātus,  ptp. of praevāricārī  to straddle something, (of an advocate) collude with an opponent’s advocate, equiv. to prae- pre- + vāricāre  to straddle, deriv. of vārus  bent outwards, bow-legged

The funny thing is that I was intending to do procrastinate today since that’s what I’ve been doing a lot of lately. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, prevaricate came out instead so I’m going with it.

The thing I find most interesting about this word is its origin. Prevarication has a pretty straightforward definition: you lie! To prevaricate is to deliberately misstate. Don’t you love that? So, if you didn’t actually intend to lie you’re not prevaricating. In any case, back to the origin. To bend backwards or straddle an issue, especially that of an opponent’s advocate, in other words to side with an opponents fan. Which really doesn’t make much sense in and of itself, but also has little to do with the word itself! Okay, so I didn’t have a hand in the dictionary-creation process, but still… Anyway, isn’t it much cooler—and meaner to call someone a prevaricator than just “liar, liar, pants on fire”? Or maybe that’s just me.

Grammar Punk Sentence: T E 4

Stevie has always been adamant about never telling a lie but she is the first to admit to prevaricating on occasion—don’t get me started.

You give it a try. Write a sentence that contains at least 4 words that contain the letters T and E and the word prevaricate or one of its variations.

Teaching Grammar With Diction

Wolf and Woof

Yes it all gets rather complicated and rule-laden and what’s next, but it’s all important. And it’s all good. And it’s all part and parcel. Or should be. Diction, people! How you say it is at least as important as how you spell it and how you use it in a sentence. Right?

Seriously, listen to your local or not so local newscaster sometime. I’m constantly astonished (and horrified) by the badly mangled pronunciations that erupt during a typical newscast. It was just the other night when a particular reporter was doing a report on wolves that had me throwing things at the television. Why? Because the woman kept calling wolves woofs! Seriously! Woof! Now this could conceivably be a sound made by one of the wolves, but I doubt it. Like Jewelry and joolery this is a common and entirely unacceptable pronunciation gaff.

How you pronounce something can be as important as what you say.

Okay, climbing off my soap box. Diction: the clarity with which somebody pronounces words when speaking, should (must) go hand in hand with the teaching of grammar. And you guessed it, diction was one of the sooo important aspects of teaching grammar that we had in mind when creating Grammar Punk. Diction without pain. Because a part of the teaching (and learning) process with Grammar Punk is about reading aloud the sentence just created. This not only gives teachers and students the chance to read the sentence aloud (thus showing off their creativity) it also allows a chance to polish that diction. 

Just remember, there are no Woofs in the Wild!

At one fell swoop: all at once, in one sudden move, finality at its most final.

I don’t know about you but I’ve used this particular phrase a lot. I love this phrase, not only because it so neatly, even elegantly encompasses its definition, but it’s Shakespearean! You can’t do better than that.  Good old Shakespeare, you’ve gotta give him credit for having a way with words. I adore Shakespeare and having read most of his plays admire him as much for his stories and ideas and imagery as I do his way with the language.

I also like this phrase because while it is pretty widely recognizable yet at the same time taking the words apart and removing them from the phrase it doesn’t really make a great deal of sense. Probably why the words that make it up are often misspelled: fail instead of fell; fowl (since the origin has to do with birds) instead of fell.

So where does it come from? Shakespeare we’ve already established, Macbeth is the play. Of course, good old Macbeth which brought us “toil and trouble” as well as “out damn spot!”

This particular phrase is indelibly sad, incredibly tragic, very, very final. The word “fell” pretty much says it all. It’s an old word, in use by the 13th century, that’s now fallen out of use apart from in this phrase and as the common root of the term ‘felon’. The Oxford English Dictionary defines fell as meaning ‘fierce, savage; cruel, ruthless; dreadful, terrible’, which is pretty unambiguous.

Shakespeare either coined the phrase, or gave it circulation, in Macbeth, 1605:

MACDUFF: [on hearing that his family and servants have all been killed]

All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?

The kite referred to is a hunting bird, like the Red Kite, which was common in England in Tudor times and is now making a welcome return after near extinction in the 20th century. The swoop (or stoop as is now said) is the rapid descent made by the bird when capturing prey.

Shakespeare used the imagery of a hunting bird’s ‘fell swoop’ to indicate the ruthless and deadly attack by Macbeth’s agents.

In the intervening years we have rather lost the original meaning and use it now to convey suddenness rather than savagery.

Grammar Punk Sentence: P E  

Staring aghast, Clementine was horrified to see that she’d destroyed the towering paper cup display at one fell swoop with a carelessly placed elbow.

et·y·mol·o·gy

et-uh-mol-uh-jee

–noun, plural -gies.

1. the derivation of a word.

2. an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word.

3. the study of historical linguistic change, esp. as manifested in individual words.

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Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L etymologia  < Gk etymología,  equiv. to etymológ ( os ) studying the true meanings and values of words ( étymo ( s ) true ( see etymon) + lógos  word, reason) + -ia -y³

You know I have to love this word. I’m all about the origin of words. And this is one of my true loves: a word with Greek roots. Etymo = true and logos = reason. The true meaning of a word! I told you roots were cool.

Grammar Punk Sentence

L E 4 Etymology

Uncertain of the precise etymology of the word, Stan was nevertheless entirely enamored of the word calliope; though quite frankly carousel horses creeped him out.

Give it a try! Write a sentence with at least four words that contain the letters L and E and the word etymology.

Patriotically Patriotic!

Patriotism: a proud supporter or defender of his or her country and its way of life

Is it just me or do you choke up a bit every time you have occasion to recite The Pledge of Allegiance, attend a parade, watch an old war movie on television or pretty much see a flag? It could just be me. Times that by about a million at this time of year. I’ll be pretty much a blubbering ninny the whole weekend long. God Bless America!  

I just have to wax patriotic at this time of year. I am an American and couldn’t be prouder of that fact. As well as feeling incredibly blessed. And I so hope that anyone reading this feels the same way about this country or their own place of birth. Where we come from and live should be more than just where we come from or live. Patriotism, if at all possible, should be a part of our everyday life, if only in theory. While every place has its limitations, problems, and less-than-perfect parts, it is after all, where you’re from.

Take a moment this 4^th of July—or whenever your particular home-town has it’s annual Appreciate Us event—to stop and be happy where you’re from, or, at the very least, where you’d like to be.

Happy 4^th of July! Now go light a sparkler!  

ped·a·gogue

[ped-uh-gog, -gawg]

–noun

1.

a teacher; schoolteacher.

2.

a person who is pedantic, dogmatic, and formal.

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Also, ped·a·gog .

Origin:
1350–1400; ME pedagoge  < L paedagōgus  < Gk paidagōgós  a boy’s tutor. See ped-¹ , -agogue

Now this one has always fascinated—and puzzled—me. I love a dual definition, especially when the two definitions seem to have little to nothing to do with one another. A teacher. A pedantic person. What’s that supposed to mean?! Teachers, especially those tasked with teaching grammar are fun, peppy, fabulous people!

The word began its life as a teacher of boys. Well, duh. Since it originated in the 14^th century and boys were pretty much the only ones being educated…don’t get me started. But what does any of that have to do with being pedantic (too concerned with what are thought to be correct rules and details, e.g. in language)? Okay, so maybe it makes a bit more sense. And I must admit that I can be a bit on the pedantic side on occasion. All right, maybe it’s not such a huge mystery after all. Carry on.

Grammar Punk Sentence

P E 3 (  )

Standing in front of the classroom the substitute pedagogue (or substitute teacher to those of lesser gray matter) pinned the rowdy class with a pedantic scowl; they would learn soon enough that she meant business.

 Give it a try! Write a Grammar Punk Sentence with at least three words that contain the letters P and E and the punctuation symbol parentheses. The sentence must also include the word pedagogue.

Write your own sentences and share!

Teaching Grammar

Now before your move on at breakneck speed to anything besides the subject of, gulp, GRAMMAR, hold on a minute. Grammar is cool—or should be. Grammar is fun—or can be. Grammar is easier than you think—or will be. With Grammar Punk. Grammar is all around us—no kidding.

What I’m really talking about is making the teaching of grammar fun. No, really.

We at Grammar Punk are, admittedly, geeks of the first order, and not just because we happen to love Grammar. What we really love is the language and the words we use to form the language. The letters that make the words that create the sentences that form the paragraphs that build the stories that Jack built. We warned you about the geek part.

Grammar: Rules for language; the system of rules by which words are formed and put together to make sentences. That definition pretty much says it all. Grammar is a system of rules, probably why it’s become such a deadly dull topic. The dry recitation of a bunch of rules is the great idea of very few. And it’s why it’s become a subject that can be neglected, or even, gasp, left out altogether. But it’s that important, that vital to a well-rounded education. To be even more blunt, it’s that vital to a barely functional human being. Writing, unlike, say algebra, is essential. We all have to write. Whether it’s with a keyboard, a phone pad, an i-pad, or what-have-you, writing is a must-have.

So what, you might ask, does this have to do with the teaching of grammar? Frankly not all that much with the way that grammar has been traditionally taught. Admit it, as you’re tapping away on whatever apparatus you choose the fish diagram thing you did ad nauseum in elementary school (also known as grammar school, by the way) is not front and foremost in your mind. You know how to write, we all know how to write, why? Wait for it, because we had to learn. How well we learned it is a whole different matter. Enjoying it, another subject still.

So, let’s talk about teaching grammar in a different way. Let’s talk about the purpose of the teaching grammar, which is at the end of the day, to make better writers. Good writers. Coherent writers. Even great writers. And step number one should be:

Writing is fun.

Writing is communication. Writing is how facts, thoughts, emotions, and opinions are expressed. Writing is how books that enlighten, frighten, amuse, sadden, and thrill get made. Writing is how all those television series, movies, and comic books go from someone’s imagination to the screen. 

The first tip for making the teaching and learning of grammar fun is to get realistic. Realistically, why should we care about the rote-memorization of the (many) rules pertaining to punctuation and the parts of speech if students struggle to write the simplest of sentences?

Okay, long introduction over. I, on behalf of Grammar Punk the home of “writing is fun-ville”, will be adding a weekly teaching grammar is fun sort of exercise. It will contain the rules which will be immediately followed by something fun to ease the sting of the rule thing. Play along, participate, just read, that’s cool. Whatever, if you pay the slightest bit of attention you’ll find that writing really is fun. Promise.

Lesson No. 1

We’ll start slow but sure. Periods. Kind of a duh sort of punctuation symbol, but not really. Periods after all dictate the length of sentences, whether they be simple, run-on, fragmented, complex, etc. Periods also do things like abbreviate words, create acronyms, and denote fractions and monetary incremental factors. See? And you thought periods were simple.

Okay, here we go.

Periods end declarative and most imperative sentences. Periods are also used in abbreviations, to show decimals, and denote dollars and cents in writing. Think of periods as causing a “full stop” at the end of a sentence.

We begin with periods in our Grammar Punk™ 4-9 Intermediate Program. Students will not only learn each and every rule by not only by reading about them, hearing from their teachers, but by using the rule in a sentence. By writing that sentence. Again and again. And because they will be doing things like rolling brightly colored dice and doing what the dice dictate, and because the words they use will be their own and also inspired by the dice, the sentence writing will be fun. The classroom (of whatever size or type it may be) will be noisy and raucous and involved. And it will be fun.

Periods end declarative and most imperative sentences. Periods are also used in abbreviations, to show decimals, and denote dollars and cents in writing. Think of periods as causing a “full stop” at the end of a sentence.

1.    Use a period at the end of a complete sentence that is a statement.

1.    Use a period at the end of a complete sentence that is a statement.

Grammar Punk™ 4-9 Example: S I 4 | Sylvia was quite astonished to find that she had slept through the entire dentist visit.

Learn more about us at www.grammarpunk.com