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The fight for English : Comments
By Malcolm King, published 7/3/2008The rules for the use of apostrophes and capitalisation, have been sucked from the classroom like a road map out of the window of a speeding car.
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Take your sentence: "It appalls me how little people read." Are you saying that only tall people should read? Or that people who are short of stature read badly?
Or what are we to make of your sentence: "It appalls me that teachers put so much emphasis on what the author correctly calls 'relativist twaddle' - as if their analysis of Dickens is as good as David Lodge's"? Are you claiming that David Lodge's analysis of Dickens is as good as, or better than, teachers' analysis of Dickens?
I agree with you when you say, "Structuring one's sentences and spelling correctly is important..." and on OLO I have been shocked by the poor standard of English prose in some postings. Rushing to judgement, however, may lead you to miss some important content.
As you say, "But no one is perfect and mistakes happen". It's not so very long ago that teachers were teaching their students that you never start a sentence with 'but'. But I'm happy that we've relaxed that rule, aren't you?