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.
Eventually, many Trump supporters will come to realize that the meme at left is a hoax, that their leader fell for it, and spread it to countless people. But it would be interesting to know how many care.
We live in a post-truth society, where the fact that something is simply invented out of thin air means little if anything. In fact, if you’ve ever listened to Trump give a speech, you’ve seen that most of what see says is clearly false.
Until recently, we assumed that most Americans had the aspirations that were prevalent when we were young: get a good education and continue to learn until the day you die. Live a life of honesty, fairness, intelligence, and compassion. Perhaps, pick role model who exemplifies what you think of good human being, and emulate their thinking and behavior.
As we watch and listen to Trump supporters, we’re learning something tragic: a huge swath of the American population has no interest in any of this; in fact, they could call it “woke crap.”
Some say that the reason we have Trump in the White House has little to do with characteristics of Trump himself, but rather with those of the 77 million people who voted for him.
In case you’re wondering about it, it won’t be Trump or JD Vance, or any of the congressional Republicans who carts you away. As suggested at left, it will be some rando who used to pump your gas or your weigh your broccoli at the grocery store.
As we have seen in all fascist regimes, it’s not the schoolteachers or veterinarians or philosophers or cardiologists who round up “undesirables” and send them away to their deaths.
Not a bad reason to support public education.
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