The day (the day, I tell you!) after I read Lisa's article "Beware of Grammar Gestapo," I found this article in the Washington Post.
Because the new SAT has a section testing how well students can assemble and disassemble (harder than assembling - believe me!), grammar is becoming more popular in English class.
The article talks about how grammar disappeared in the '70s and '80s, but that's not completely true for me. My formative grammar years were during that '70s/'80s time, and I learned all about prepositions, participles, gerunds, diagramming sentences, and more. However, I know that lot of my contemporaries have never diagrammed a sentence, and they say they've never heard of a predicate nominative. I must have had some English teachers who were old school. :-)
"Clauses and Commas Make a Comeback" highlights the teaching life of Mike Greiner who teaches grammar in between literature to his high school students. Here are his Seven Grammatical Sins for your enjoyment:
7. Griener. It's Greiner; I'm an exception to the rule about i and e.
6. Many writers think commas are cool, semicolons are special and sophisticated. Use a semicolon between independent clauses.
5. english. Capitalize the most important subject . . . or proper nouns.
4. Between you and I . . . Use the objective case, i.e., me, after prepositions.
3. This is her. Use the nominative/subjective case for predicate nominatives.
2. Grammer. If you'd like an A in English, spell grammar with 2 A's.
1. I'm doing good in English this year! Really? Are you curing cancer or helping the homeless? If not, use the adverb well, not the adjective good.
I would have been happier if he had had Eight Grammatical Sins and included pronoun agreement, but I'll be happy with these seven for now.
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