Don’t You Wish You Had Not Slept Through English Class?

I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was extremely blessed to attend excellent public schools with skilled English teachers. I was not allowed to place a comma in any copy without first quoting the rule!

When I first moved to Miami in 1979, I attended Miami-Dade Community College to become a legal secretary. I was requested by two ladies to tutor them in Business English. One of these ladies was a Cuban American (in her 30s) and the other was a Gringette (in her 60s). Both were scoring Ds in class. Every night in a three-way conversation, we reviewed the homework. At the end of the long semester, both ladies passed with a “B.” Showing their appreciation, they gave me a beautiful gold necklace. Their passing grades pleased me more than any gift.

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If we had only known how sentence structure, verb tense, subject and verb agreeing in number, parenthetical expressions, the eight parts of speech, punctuation, and all those wonderful essentials of English would eventually come back to haunt us, we would have stayed awake during English grammar class.

I read Kevin Tomlinson’s blog on Active Rain wherein he advised that the way you present yourself online (in your blog) is just as important as how you present yourself . . . period. (paraphrased).

This is true. Even though blogging is considered “informal” and “opinion,” it is important for the blogger to abide by the rules s/he learned in eighth grade English. Tightening up the message would be a plus!

My recommendation for adult writers is: ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH, by Vincent F. Hopper, Cedric Gale, Foote and Benjamin W. Griffith, Fifth Edition, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., (copyright 2000).

Of course, I’ll be reviewing this book right along with you! Praise God for English teachers who were passionate about their subjects and their students.

I would love to facilitate a “night” class in English grammar with a Starbucks blog bust at the end. Vente chai tea latte anyone?