My husband is doing a bit of occasional lecturing work to keep us from starvation. He gave his students an essay recently. The texts are now in and it appears that the majority of his students are completely illiterate. His last lecture of the term focussed on what is likely to come up in the examination in January. He prefaced it by announcing that the thing most likely to increase their success in the examination was gaining a working knowledge of the use of the apostrophe. “How did they take that?” I asked. “They only started writing when I told them the topics they needed to cover for the examination.” I understand that Sophocles had similar problems with the younger generation.
Meanwhile, I too suffer for my love of grammar. Consider the following email exchange.
From: Former colleague A
To: Former colleague B
CC: Me
Subject: Lunch
I had mentioned to Anne we were meeting up and took the liberty of asking her along on Tuesday – is that ok with you? We can always gag her if she keeps talking about Cork!
From: Former colleague A
To: Me
Subject: Lunch
[In response to indignant reply from me]. So, is next Tuesday, ok?
From: Me
To: FCA
Subject: Lunch
Good.
From: FCA
To: Me
Subject: Lunch
Is that an endorsement of my literary style, a reflection of inner well being, or an indication of attendance?
From: Me
To: Former colleague A
Subject: Lunch
No, no and yes.
From: Former colleague A
To: Me
Subject: Lunch
How dare you insult my writings
From: Me
To: Former colleague A
Subject: Lunch
You forgot the question mark.
From: Former colleague A
To: Me
Subject: Lunch
I see your own literary style still tends to pedantic.