Grammar

I do not remember much about my early school years, but during my middle-school years, I had very little respect for anything academic, especially grammar. As an adult, however, I developed the desire to study foreign languages. Now, I understand and appreciate the need for proper grammar, especially within the written language. I am very aware when someone speaks with improper grammar, but I never correct them.

One grammar mistake that many people make is the improper use of the reflexive pronoun. Myself, yourself, themselves, and ourselves are all reflexive pronouns. The proper use of these pronouns occurs when the subject and object of the sentence are the same. For example, I remind myself to do my homework as early as possible. The pronoun, I, is the subject of the sentence, and the pronoun, myself, is the object. Since they refer to the same entity, the proper objective pronoun would be the reflexive pronoun, myself. If the subject and the object were different, for example, I remind you to do your homework as early as possible, then the the reflexive pronoun would not be used. I have heard a brilliant doctor and U.S. Senator whose name I will not mention improperly use the reflexive pronoun, saying something like, “Senator ### and myself agree that…” This is an improper use of the reflexive pronoun made by an otherwise brilliant person. Thus, I would not judge someone’s intelligence on simple grammar errors, especially when those errors are made within the spoken language.

I believe that I have become more in tuned to this error after having learned Spanish as a second language. Nevertheless, I do not judge people who speak with slight improper grammar within the spoken language. However, I expect people, especially college students, to abide the basic rules of grammar within the written language. Improper grammar leads to awkward writing, and I would rather not waste my time reading such writing.

There are, however, some meaningless grammar errors that I think should not be considered errors. The split infinitive, for example, has a lot of style and creativity. For example, the well-known phrase, to boldly go where no one has gone before, would not sound as artistic without the split infinitive. One could avoid the split infinitive by saying, to go boldly where no man has gone before, but it would not sound the same.

I do not think that instant messaging presents a threat to the spoken language because the spoken language will always evolve. If instant messaging causes a change to spoken language, then it is natural evolution. However, I still believe that the written language should remain relatively standard so that we all can communicate on a common ground. My personal beliefs, however, may be flawed in one or more ways. What do you all think?