I thought I was well rounded in my grammatical prowess, but after the first couple weeks of class I have found this to be false. More important than any concept I don’t fully understand is the concept I have actually learned so far. Grammar isn’t necessarily something that everybody can pick up instantly; there are multiple approaches to teaching and understanding the subject. Showing somebody the difference between “it’s” and “its” is a lot tougher than it looks, especially when you (the teacher) knows it so effortlessly.
Something I have always felt comfortable with, and have therefore overlooked, is the use of apostrophes. I never really realized how complicated the tiny character can be. Although I have been using them correctly throughout my writing career, I never understood how many more uses it has aside from possession.
The section of our scrapbook that we completed last week plays towards the complexity of our language, and the characters within it. Depending on the “House Style” of the publication, apostrophes might or might not be used with letters and numbers. ATM’s could be ATMs, or A.T.M.’s, or atms if you want to get tricky. I could really like 5s or I could be ecstatic over 7’s, solely depending on how I am feeling. This is confusing, although I understand why it is.
I admittedly have trouble understanding the concept of pronouns. Are they just a form of noun that isn’t direct that refers to a noun? Or is that just a confusing cycle that repeats infinitely? So I guess my question is: what is a pronoun and why should I care?
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you kinda have it right, Chase: pronouns can stand in for noun phrases. ex. Our crazy professor Barbara... ex. She... (notice that the "she" is replacing more than just the one noun, "Barbara." It's standing in for all the modifiers that go with "Barbara," too.]
ReplyDeleteBut there is so much more to pronouns. Check out _Nitty Gritty_ under "pronouns."
Why is this important? well, the notion of possessive pronouns is certainly important--no?--to clarify why you don't put an apostrophe in "whose," for example.
Also, we'll find there are a couple of other common errors having to do with case and number and gender--all pronoun-related.
Stay tuned!