Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Slang fills the void, yo!


The dilemma: English lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun.

Baking powder?

Yes, that's right. If you want to say that *someone* did something and you aren't sure if that person was male or female, what do you say? 


He? So it was definitely a male?

He or she? Awkward?

They? So it was more than one person?

A recent post on Grammar Girl shares the story of how young people in Baltimore resolved this dilemma by inventing a new word. Without really inventing a new word. Just reappropriating it.

The Grammarian finds this delightful, fascinating, slightly problematic, and on the whole, totally worthy of our attention. 

The Grammarian, who shall remain gender neutral for the present moment, enjoys a good teenage 2.0 solution for lingo trubbies.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

YOUR v. YOU'RE

A friend of The Grammarian's posted this to Twitter, excoriating Ulta,
"C'mon Ulta. You're better than this!"



And it's true. Signage at estimable retailers like Ulta should be better than letting this erroneous spelling/punctuation happen in the name of Tarte eye shadow sales.

Yet this sloppy spelling happens all the time. Many a gracious invitation The Grammarian has received headlined with "YOUR INVITED!" My invited what? My invited booty should come to your soiree?

To review:

YOUR = possessive. Your true colors shine through with that Tarte eyeshadow.

YOU'RE = contraction of You + Are. You're simply dazzling in Tarte eye shadow. 

Yours truly,
The Grammarian

P.S. You are all fabulous in your own grammartastic ways! 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Review of Grammarly: Grammar Checking Tool

The Grammarian can be downright haughty about self-editing. Surely one's own grammar gaffes and punctuation blunders will stand out to one's own naked eyes, no?

 Of course we know this is a patent falsehood. Sometimes Most times, authors are altogether too close to their own work and need a fresh pair. Of editing scrutineyes, natch.

 Enter: Grammarly. The online tool purports to empower the writer to "Instantly find and correct over 250 types of grammatical mistakes." Who knew mistakes could be so numerous in type? The Grammarian was skeptical so she ran a favorite blog post of hers through. It is great fun to "watch" as Grammarly does its work, as it generates its proof-positive, Yes, Virginia, there is a whole host of grammar mistakes in your writing report.

As the tool scans the work, it reports on exactly the kinds of erroneous behavior it monitors. Like the misuse of the word "such." Or faulty parallels. Just look at what Grammarly turned up in a short little blog post. The horror!
 

 If one wants to get a free 7 Day trial to see exactly what those prescriptive errors are, one needs only sign up. But then what? You can sign up for monthly plans from around $12 - $30. Also note that Google Chrome, preferred browser of the Grammarian, in addition to other browsers used by the proletariat offer an embedded Grammarly tool. For free! 

What say YOU all. What have been your experiences, dear readers, in being more Grammarly?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

More Green, Fewer Napkins

The Grammarian is pro Menchie's.

The Grammarian is pro environmental practices.

The Grammarian is pro Menchie's using the expression "fewer napkins" so as to be both environmentally sound AND grammatically correct.

Win Win! 



Menchies