A Grammar Story

During one of our first classes with Professor Jolly, he mentioned how people today use improper grammar so often that it is considered normal. Some specific examples that he found particularly irritating were sentences like, "There's a lot of people in this room" and "There's never been more reasons to buy a Toyota." Isn't it funny how most people would not see the error in these sentences?

What's even funnier is that the people who DO see the error in these sentences will still say them anyway! Why? Because society speaks incorrectly in casual conversation and majority rules. It just rubs off on you. It takes a lot of hard work to speak correctly in a social setting when everyone around is not. People might think you're "weird" because you are talking strangely. You also don't want to risk coming across to your buddies as an arrogant a-hole. So you "blend" by talking incorrectly.

I am one of those people. I always try to say true to my grammatically correct ways in which I was taught, but sometimes I find myself saying things I know are wrong the instant they leave my tongue. It's so annoying! But I am usually the only person who notices my error in those situations, so no real harm is done.

One of my personal pet peeves is hearing people say, "Me and her went out last night," or the common mistake of saying something like, "Her and I went out last night." The latter sounds correct, doesn't it? What happens when you take out the "and I" from the sentence?That's all you have to do to realize the error. "Her went out last night" does NOT sound correct. "She went out last night" does. Therefor, the correct sentence would be: "She and I went out last night." Nifty little trick, huh? That's what I was taught to do when I was a child and I have never forgotten.

Rarely do I come across someone in a social setting who appreciates my correct grammar usage. Last week, though, I was talking with a customer at the restaurant (I work at a breakfast restaurant), and he asked me, "Are you responsible for these delicious pancakes?" to which I responded, "I wish I could say I were." He immediately complimented my use of the word "were" as compared to most people who would have used the word "was" in that situation. It was nice to see that there's people out there (besides Engilsh professors) who appreciate the art of speaking properly.

(That last sentence was a test to see if you're paying attention) :)