Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for September 06, 2010

hahah no way!!!

I saw a bumper sticker once…it said…”what’s the best thing about being a teacher?…June, July,August.”

Happy new year to all those teachers starting school, but happier new year to those of us who retired from teaching!

Hahaha, good one, Holly! It amazes kids to find out that teachers have a life outside of school.

Love the facial expressions in panel 2 …

Well Holly now you know teachers like breaks to. Then again they like to get back to work. Means a pay check. Did any of you see where some groups are helping teachers get free supplies for student’s whose parents are broke and can’t get school supply’s for they’re kids.

For you English experts since it’s been awhile when is the proper way to use the word they’re. I think I know about their for using context for people. I believe there is not for people but places or objects. I’m very serious here. I will try to come back later.

Use “they’re” when you mean “they are”. It can be used either for people or things.

“They are here” = “They’re here.”

I’m here, you’re here, he’s here, she’s here, it’s here, we’re here, you’re here, they’re here.

Use “their” as a possessive. It can also be used either for people or things.

My place, your place, his place, her place, its place, our place, your place, their place.

Also: Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs (notice the absence of apostrophes).

And don’t forget the fine points of the usage of y’all.

Mine, your’n, his’n, her’n, us’n, y’all’s, their’n.

aircraft-engineer: American English has been recognized by some sources as a separate dialect of the language. Sorry, but I don’t remember the sources I’ve seen; two of them. It didn’t eem inpjrtant at the time…

How about “there” to complete the trio? “There” means “over yonder”.

Similarly, “its” is when it belongs to it; “it’s” means “it is.” Possessive pronouns don’t have apostrophes. Contractions always do.

At the time American English started on a separate path from the Queen’s English, there was no such thing as “standard” English anyway. An articulate Yank isn’t really any further away from what, say, Shakespeare would have spoken than a similarly articulate Brit. (I’ve heard that in some ways, we might be closer. Certain vowels are spoken by Americans the way they used to be spoken in some regions of England.) And of course Americans hardly have a monopoly on being inarticulate…

In a real sense, American English is becoming “standard” anyway. In Europe, most people who learn English as a second language learn UK English, but elsewhere it’s the American brand, I think. Also, because of mass exportation of our movies and TV shows, “Americanisms” are creeping into Anglophone speech everywhere. The only real reversal of that pattern is with American rock bands who sing with English accents, but then again half the English rock bands sing like Americans. The accent of Rock and Roll has been Mid-Atlantic (halfway between London and Manhattan) for nearly 50 years.

Think again Holly….

fritzoid That was quite the English lesson. Poor usage of the English language is one of my pet peeves. I really get annoyed by the misuse of there, their, they’re, and do not understand y’all, and any preposition that ends with n, like there’n. No such word people!! There, rant over.

“Poor usage of the English language is one of my pet peeves.”

One of my pet peeves is when Brits complain about American English. :-)

I just LOVE the English language in all its sloppy, irregular glory; we have something like three times the number of words in current, everyday usage as the French, and we steal and coin new ones every day. Still, while a good writer never lets grammar stand in the way of an effective sentence, it makes for greater clarity if certain conventions of spelling and punctuation are observed.

Thanks to everyone for your help to my comment for words like there, etc. When I do type a comment and its not right this way I will learn to better. There are times though for fun I might put a little shorter word in.

Actually y’all is a proper contraction of you all.

Actually, Holly, it’s the PARENTS who look forward to September. Haven’t you noticed your mother doing the Happy Dance behind your back?

I am also one who hate seeing further corruptions of our language, even as I realize that my generation has welcomed intrusions from other languages during our lifetime. It just seems that many usages which are current are just ignorance and laziness- that is what bothers the most! I understand that a language is constantly evolving, but it should be for the betterment! I’ll be 73 this month and my 4 children are in their 40-50s, but if I were raising kids now they would be home schooled (with math on-line) but I can do the rest!

Hey all if you see this comment I’m sorry I’m not a teacher. Teacher’s I think get paid by the state. And here in KS we have to pay an extra 1cent sales tax to state so there will be no more school closing and teachers let go. A lot of kids parent’s don’t have money for supplies so teacher’s buy to help their student’s. Means student’s have parent’s no jobs.

I had to learn all of those stupid grammer rules for grades 9-12. Now I feel stupid when I txt. Don’t u just h8 tht?