A reader asks:
I learned almost all the grammar I still know from Latin, French and German where these constructions had to be more explicitly explained: Declension and conjugation from Latin, subjunctives from German, etc. My question is, am I unusual in this respect or did you gain a better command of English by comparing (it) with other languages?
Studying Latin and the other languages helps, but I wouldn’t overemphasize this. English has the subjunctive mood. We don’t say, “If I was king.” or “Joe wishes he was taller.” We don’t have conjugations of verbs, but we have more than our share of irregular verbs, which I would argue earns our language what it’s known to be: a beast to learn.
My point is that one can achieve a solid command of English grammar without any exposure to anything beyond.
The issue is caring. My family cared a great deal, as did the private school my brother and I attended. When I come across people with poor grammar I realize: no one cared. That’s sad, especially considering that the average European high school student becomes fluent in at least two languages, and sometimes four or five.
When my kids were young, I told them, “No one can look into your mind and read your thoughts. For that reason, those around you will listen to what you say or read what you write and form their judgements as to your intelligence accordingly. If you don’t want to be thought to be an idiot, put in a bit of effort and nail down the basics of our language.
Can’t swear that this is true but hoping so.
We must never forget.
The more visibility and the more frequent reminders we can get on this catastrophe in U.S. history the better.
It’s almost funny when we hear that California is a socialist state, or a police state (due to our environmental restrictions), or that people are leaving in droves to go to Texas or Florida. When I come across people who say this, I wonder: have you ever actually been to California?
Do you know that the garden-variety 3 BR, 2 BA house here lists at about $1.2 million, where, if it were moved to, say, the Midwest, it would be worth perhaps $2500,000? Why do you think that could possibly be? Maybe the law of supply and demand doesn’t apply to the Marxist part of the nation?
Perhaps it’s because Californians are offered fantastic economic opportunities. We develop and implement ideas that improve the lives of everyone on Earth, and that we profit greatly from our undertakings.
Something for the MAGA crowd to consider.
The main way governments create wealth is by educating people so that they can become productive members of society. They also build roads and airports and maintain law and order so that honest businesses can thrive.
Anyone living now who believes that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are creating wealth for anyone but themselves is a total fool.
A ton of people bought into the concept expressed here in the mid-20th Century, but no semi-intelligent person today believes that tax breaks for billionaires/trillionaires generates a nickel for the common person.
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