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Monday, August 10, 2009

Media Mondays: Grammar Girl

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I first discovered Grammar Girl through another friend's blog. And I was hooked from the start. It's nice to know there is somewhere to get "Quick and Dirty" tips on writing - especially about such uncommon things as how many spaces to put after a period. Which, by the way, I did not know the standard style had changed. But I'm getting used to not having to put a double space after a period when blogging. It's actually pretty nice that way.

Grammar Girl is listed as one of my education resources on the right because, well, I would like to give my students an immediate answer when they ask about the differences between "who" and "whom," or why British English is different from American English.

The funniest thing that Grammar Girl reminds me is that many native English speakers have worse written English skills than people who learned English as a second language. This is true, generally speaking. My Chinese national colleagues had a much firmer grasp of written English conventions than any of the foreign English teachers, including yours truly. So of course, it really is funny to me when certain people are so passionate about "English Only" in America, when our English is twisted and incorrect in just as many ways as English learners make it to be.

Every one needs a little refresher course every once in a while. And Grammar Girl delivers it in a fun and non-condescending way.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

i think i just truly made sense of the "who" and "whom" yesterday from "A Way With Words"...a radio show we listen to once in awhile when driving around in a car...

you can replace "he" with "who"

you can replace "him" with "whom"

gosh, if only someone could have just mentioned that simple rule before. =)

bun2bon said...

Some of those rules are so easy to remember - like the "m" words go together here. It's just sometimes unclear when there are so many rules to remember.

But then, some EL students don't know when to use "he" and when to use "him." =p