Grammar queen, stumped
Even though I'm a shrew about grammar and usage, there are a few rules that I can never get my head around.
[And some rules that I know but disregard. For example, I know that that first sentence was grammatically inferior; I should properly have written "rules around which I can never get my head," but that sounds dumb, so I can make an exception to the rule that one shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. Likewise, I know that the correct pronunciation of "forte" is one syllable, but no one knows what the hell you're talking about if you say "fort," so I generally go with "for-tay," or just avoid using that word altogether.]
Anyway. I never understand the rules about "bring" versus "take," no matter how many times the Smelmooo and his brother explain it to me. Total mental block.
The other one I struggle with is "heads up," because I overthink it. I just sent an email to alert a co-worker about a potential problem, and started the subject line (because my other pet peeve is having blank email subject lines) with "Heads up..." and then stopped and looked at it for like 30 seconds. Because I was just alerting one person, one who does not have multiple heads, but I also knew that "Head up" would not sound right. "Head's up," suggesting "head is up," to direct her where I wanted her head to be?
I think I did the right thing, sticking with "Heads up," because it's an expression, and it's not like it was a formal piece of correspondence, and really, who else but me cares about this stuff? Certainly not the recipient of the email, who employs quotation marks in the most bizarre way I've ever seen. ("Aha!" Minnams is saying, because she knows exactly who and what I'm talking about....er, exactly about whom and what I'm writing.)
Okay, enough about grammar...time to get my free Rita's water ice! Happy Spring! And happy last-day-of-being-a-reasonable-weight, because (1) Lent ends at midnight on Saturday into Sunday, meaning I reintroduce chocolate and ice cream into my diet; and (2) there is now a Rita's directly on my drive home from work. Scary.
[And some rules that I know but disregard. For example, I know that that first sentence was grammatically inferior; I should properly have written "rules around which I can never get my head," but that sounds dumb, so I can make an exception to the rule that one shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. Likewise, I know that the correct pronunciation of "forte" is one syllable, but no one knows what the hell you're talking about if you say "fort," so I generally go with "for-tay," or just avoid using that word altogether.]
Anyway. I never understand the rules about "bring" versus "take," no matter how many times the Smelmooo and his brother explain it to me. Total mental block.
The other one I struggle with is "heads up," because I overthink it. I just sent an email to alert a co-worker about a potential problem, and started the subject line (because my other pet peeve is having blank email subject lines) with "Heads up..." and then stopped and looked at it for like 30 seconds. Because I was just alerting one person, one who does not have multiple heads, but I also knew that "Head up" would not sound right. "Head's up," suggesting "head is up," to direct her where I wanted her head to be?
I think I did the right thing, sticking with "Heads up," because it's an expression, and it's not like it was a formal piece of correspondence, and really, who else but me cares about this stuff? Certainly not the recipient of the email, who employs quotation marks in the most bizarre way I've ever seen. ("Aha!" Minnams is saying, because she knows exactly who and what I'm talking about....er, exactly about whom and what I'm writing.)
Okay, enough about grammar...time to get my free Rita's water ice! Happy Spring! And happy last-day-of-being-a-reasonable-weight, because (1) Lent ends at midnight on Saturday into Sunday, meaning I reintroduce chocolate and ice cream into my diet; and (2) there is now a Rita's directly on my drive home from work. Scary.
1 Comments:
I have great respect for those who can understand and apply the rules of language that we learned in school. I wish I understood grammar, I just hear buzzing when it's explained to me.
Eventually you must decide to write and forgive yourself, or not write at all. I just kind of pledged to do the best I can do and that's that.
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steakbellie, at 3:40 PM
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