From: steve365@btinternet.com
Date: Mon Jun 23 2003 - 02:45:43 MDT
>
> As a non-native speaker I learned much of my English going between grammar
> books and comic books (no wonder I still get perplexed at times!). And,
> yet, I don't think I get as confused as many native-born speakers. I know
> language evolves and changes, but when I *consistently* see people write
> "alot" for "a lot," and say "between you and I" for "between you and me" ...
> I wonder how and what they're teaching in school these days. When my
> children were younger they would occasionally bring home notes from
> *teachers* who misspelled words and didn't seem to know their possessives
> very well. I wonder if prepositional phrases are taught anymore ...?
>
> Olga
I fear not, at least not in most schools. Personally, I am amazed at the number of students who regularly write "could of" for "could have" and have no way, it would seem, of distinguishing between its and it's. As for the unfortunate apostrophe - don't get me started! Joking apart, I think the increasing illiteracy of supposedly educated people reflects two important social changes. One is the declining importance of the printed/written word for a large part of the population, with the result that when they do write they follow the conventions of spoken english or phonetically transliterate it. That might not be too bad but for the disastrous (IMHO) impact of TV on the spoken language. The other change is in the social role of formal educational institutions, especially secondary schools. The educational part of their function is declining rapidly as the indoctrination/social control/childminding aspects increase, so the answer to your query is that increasingly they don't teach much, as that isn't their (
real) job. Steve Davies
>
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