*winces*

[conuly]

See, now, I donated all my little gift codes over to DonorsChoose already. And when you fund a project, the teacher writes a little thank you note. Usually this is just nice. Sometimes, though...

"The manipulative's that I will be receiving soon, will help my students grasp some very difficult math concepts through doing and not just memorizing."

This woman teaches third grade in a dual language program where not all the students are fluent in English. If she can't manage consistent apostrophe use, could she use her commas the right way? Either you stick one before "that i will be receiving soon" or you take them both away. How hard is this? She needs to start setting a better example.

And I know we all make mistakes sometimes (for example, I just typed "soemtimes"), but this is her public face. It's a letter of thanks to people who donated money to help her and her students. If it only takes a minute, use another minute to proofread it. Sending out something with mistakes and typos not only reflects badly upon her as a teacher, but it also is just unprofessional and, honestly, damn rude. If she doesn't care enough to make herself look good, why should we care enough to help her out? It's not even a matter of informal speech, or of dialects where you can (and I typically would) argue that different versions are appropriate in different situations. Okay, a chatty, breezy tone might not be what the style books would advise, but sometimes it's a good idea even in more formal letters. I can understand that, but this isn't that. This is just wrong-ness.

Comments

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

I consistently find errors in the papers teachers send home - one of which is an "I didn't turn in an assignment and this is the paper mom or dad has to sign that shows they know it, too."

TYPOS galore.

I don't get them often, but when I do, I correct the errors. *G* Unfortunately, these are two-part forms that were printed in bulk, so it'll be a while before they ever correct them...

And the abuse of apostrophes is epidemic.

[conuly]

Oh, god, last year especially the papers the school sent home - not the individual teachers so much, but the office - were SO FULL of mistakes, it wasn't funny.

Now I think they're at least running spellcheck after I complained several times and repeatedly offered to edit it. I think they got the "hint". (Hint, hah. It was as subtle as an anvil on the head.)

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

I had the Talented and Gifted staff person send a paper that had the name of the school itself misspelled within it.

Granted, the school name is Poynter and her spell checker changed it to Pointer, she told me when I pointed it out -- but, hello, make it an allowed change in your Word program!

I was pretty flabbergasted.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Even putting commas on both sides of the "that I will be receiving soon" seems... Unnatural. Puts far too much emphasis on when they'll be received. I'd say just drop the f-ing comma. But yes, that'd be better than just the one comma.

Also, check this out:http://breauxbridgechristianacademy.com/onlinehomeschool1/
The *entire school's* website misusing apostrophes. I cry for the plural.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Edit: Didn't I used to have a Red Pencil of DOOM icon? What happened to it? I NEED IT!

Hah! A chance to try and solve a puzzle that's been bothering me for years!
You know, I keep stumbling across "didn't I used" (or "I didn't used" etc.) and still haven't managed to figure out what's up with that. As a non-native speaker, I'd think it is ungrammatical - so what am I missing?

[conuly]

Formally, it probably *is* considered Incorrect. I feel a little funny writing it out every time. (And no - I wouldn't use it in a formal thank you letter either, I'd say something like "Wasn't able to" or "Didn't always" instead.)

However, it's common enough in informal speech, and it fills in a gap that otherwise is glaringly open. "I used to such-and-fuch" means you did it repeatedly or habitually. Without "didn't used to" (or "didn't I used to") you have no way to express that something was NOT habitual in the past, or ask if it was or wasn't.

It doesn't look pretty, and it looks informal and Frowned Upon, but it's about the only way I know of to accurately and succinctly express this.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not the "use" as such that trips me up. It's the used - or rather the did and the used, as in double past tense. Would you also say "didn't I had" instead of "didn't I have", or "didn't you did ballet at a time" instead of "didn't you do ballet..."? Because to me that would be the same (weird) thing. No doubt about the "common" - as I said, I've been stumbling across it a lot, and in the (informal) writing of people whose grasp on the English grammar I trust, which is why I haven't yet filed it under "those stupid native speakers don't get their own grammar" but under "I must be missing something, but what is it?". If that makes sense.

Re: only way to accurately and succinctly express this - wouldn't "didn't I use to have..." express exactly the same thing, except in a grammatically correct manner? That's what keeps confusing me.

[conuly]

Oh, it's not the "use" as such that trips me up. It's the used - or rather the did and the used, as in double past tense.

Yeah, but "use to" just looks ignorant, even with "didn't". *shrugs*

I mean, I know what you mean, but the thing is you can't say "use to" unless you're in the third grade and can be expected to not know better.

*thinks*

Maybe because it's a special verb. It's not use like "I used scissors", because that's pronounced with a z sound. It's used, with an s sound - and you can only use it in the past tense anyway? Or something?

I know this is a question for linguaphiles, though!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but "use to" just looks ignorant, even with "didn't".

See, but that is a native speaker intuition thing (I assume) - as a non-native speaker, I stick to grammar rules, and in that case you'd assume that when "to use to" is used with do-support (as in questions or negated sentences) the past aspect is dealt with by the "did", and thus the full verb doesn't require the past tense anymore. No matter which verb it is. "I hadn't used to...", but "I didn't use to".
On a purely grammatical basis.

On a basis of application, it obviously is a lot more complicated - I put up a poll on my LJ and already there are some really interesting results. Fun! :D

[conuly]

I don't think I'd say "I hadn't used to" either, just fyi.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever heard it, either. It would be grammatically sound though - which isn't the same thing as idiomatic or even feasible. ;)

[conuly]

And I know "But it just SOUNDS right/wrong!" isn't a very good answer, but, as you noted, it's a native speaker thing. It sounds wrong in the same way fishes sounds wrong except when speaking of the loaves and the.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I subbed in a room where the teacher, while doing spelling, managed two significant errors, one of which was connected to the spelling words.

It is very difficult not to seize control of the lesson at that point.

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

I've never seen "manipulatives" before, and it makes me wince slightly. It's just an adjective with an s, and that's really jarring.

[conuly]

Manipulative, in this sense, is a thingy you, uh, manipulate. It's like counters for learning math, or beads for lacing, or magnetic letters.