Comments on: Your, You’re, It’s, Its, Their, There http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/your-youre-its-its-their-there/ Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:40:36 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: juli http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/your-youre-its-its-their-there/#comment-116 juli Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:17:53 +0000 http://juliherman.wordpress.com/?p=498#comment-116 and laugh ...:D and laugh …:D

]]> By: juli http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/your-youre-its-its-their-there/#comment-115 juli Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:09:57 +0000 http://juliherman.wordpress.com/?p=498#comment-115 jazakallah khair Basil, I can only smile. You have Malay and Arabic. You're not stuck with English. :) jazakallah khair Basil,

I can only smile.

You have Malay and Arabic. You’re not stuck with English.

:)

]]> By: Basil Mohamed Gohar http://juliherman.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/your-youre-its-its-their-there/#comment-114 Basil Mohamed Gohar Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:39:58 +0000 http://juliherman.wordpress.com/?p=498#comment-114 Part of the confusion includes conflicting rules amongst different standards, if not regarding commas and apostrophes, then with rules of quotations. In elementary & middle school I recall learning one style of writing, while in high school, and specifically in 11th grade, we suddenly switched to the MLA style for one English class. I grew to despise MLA because, along with being different, some of the rules (at least the ones I remember) actually seemed counter-intuitive for me. I've long since repressed the memories of which ones, though, so I cannot cite any specifics at this time. A while ago I purchased the book "The Elements of Style", and I found it very refreshing. It's great because, without stating absolutes, it's a book that makes a case for good writing that is UNDERSTANDABLE. I think we emphasize some rules too much to the point that what people are saying becomes unclear. I used to say, "Grammar is an impediment to communication". That's not to say it's not correct to use good grammar. It's just that I think some grammar rules hinder communication rather than make it clear. One rule that I outright disagree with, and my rebelliousness is quite apparent in the above paragraph, is punctuation inside of quotes. I believe a quote is a self-contained entity. If it has it's own punctuation, that's fine. But if it doesn't, I'm not going to force my sentence's punctuation to fall inside the quote, because it doesn't belong there! In conclusion, though, sometimes I think it's hopeless to discuss grammar in English. English is one of the worst languages I know of when it comes to rules and consistency, whether it is spelling, grammar, or other language constructs. But it's the one I'm stuck with for now. But I agree with you that when someones poster or flier lack's proper punctuation or grammer than it impedes there message alot. Part of the confusion includes conflicting rules amongst different standards, if not regarding commas and apostrophes, then with rules of quotations. In elementary & middle school I recall learning one style of writing, while in high school, and specifically in 11th grade, we suddenly switched to the MLA style for one English class. I grew to despise MLA because, along with being different, some of the rules (at least the ones I remember) actually seemed counter-intuitive for me. I’ve long since repressed the memories of which ones, though, so I cannot cite any specifics at this time.

A while ago I purchased the book “The Elements of Style”, and I found it very refreshing. It’s great because, without stating absolutes, it’s a book that makes a case for good writing that is UNDERSTANDABLE. I think we emphasize some rules too much to the point that what people are saying becomes unclear. I used to say, “Grammar is an impediment to communication”. That’s not to say it’s not correct to use good grammar. It’s just that I think some grammar rules hinder communication rather than make it clear.

One rule that I outright disagree with, and my rebelliousness is quite apparent in the above paragraph, is punctuation inside of quotes. I believe a quote is a self-contained entity. If it has it’s own punctuation, that’s fine. But if it doesn’t, I’m not going to force my sentence’s punctuation to fall inside the quote, because it doesn’t belong there!

In conclusion, though, sometimes I think it’s hopeless to discuss grammar in English. English is one of the worst languages I know of when it comes to rules and consistency, whether it is spelling, grammar, or other language constructs. But it’s the one I’m stuck with for now.

But I agree with you that when someones poster or flier lack’s proper punctuation or grammer than it impedes there message alot.

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