Saturday's Six - Grammar

1. How different is your speech pattern among your friends versus a stranger you’d meet on the street?

I've never really thought about it. I think I tend to speak the same to strangers as I do to my friends. I'm sure there are "lingo" words that I use with friends that I wouldn't use with strangers because they are unique to the background I have with people I know well. I'd hope I speak politely to everyone. I guess I'll be much more away of how I speak to people.

2. How often do you get asked where you’re from based on your accent?

I'm almost never asked because I was born and raised in California and still live in California so I guess I sound like everyone else. The last time I was asked where I was from from was in New York a number of years ago. Everyone I encountered didn't bother to ask they just knew I was from California so I guess I do have some type of accent or speech pattern. (I really want to add dude here!)

3. What word or phrase said by newscasters is your biggest pet peeve?

I hate how "slangy" the news has become. I can't think of an example right now because I tend to read my news since I find most newscasts very hard to listen to. I do feel the newscasters have become much too informal in their use of language.

4. Take the quiz: How good at grammar are you?

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

5. How often do you look up a word in a dictionary, either online or print?

I tend to look up words quite frequently. Since I teach first grade, I see so many words so dramatically misspelled that I start to doubt myself when I'm writing or editing student work and have to use a dictionary to confirm how things are spelled. My students think it is hysterical that I can't always spell simple words. I hope it teaches them, by example, that it's okay to look up words and that nobody can spell anything. Maybe I'm just kidding myself. I do use spell check whenever I can, even if I think I got it all right, but it doesn't catch everything. You really do need to read things through as well.

6. How many books or guides on grammar do you currently own?

I think I have one very dusty grammar guide on a shelf somewhere. I don't tend to use them. I rely on my husband, who has a very good sense of grammar, and I also tend to go with what looks right to me. Now I do have books of very basic grammar in my classroom all the time. Luckily, I don't tend to need these - I do remember how to start and stop a sentence.