HOME | DD

Description

As an English teacher in Mexico, I have a responsibility to teach correct grammar to students whose first language is Spanish. One piece of advice I give my students is not to think all native English speakers use correct grammar.

So many times, I hear horrendous grammatical constructs, such as during a televised football game when the announcer says something like “If I am the coach, I don’t call that play”. (A correct statement would be “If I were the coach, I wouldn’t call that play.”)

Also, the current trend to use “they/them” as a third person singular pronoun is wrong. (There are three third person singular pronouns: he/him, she/her, it/it.)

Nevertheless, the grammar construction I dislike the most is the current need to turn nouns into verbs. Examples:

Incorrect: I gifted her a bracelet.

Correct: I gave her a bracelet.

Incorrect: I texted her.

Correct: I sent her a text.

Incorrect: She emailed me.

Correct: She sent me an email.

Incorrect: He phoned me.

Correct: He called me on the phone.

Incorrect: I Googled it.

Correct: I searched for it on Google.

Description

As an English teacher in Mexico, I have a responsibility to teach correct grammar to students whose first language is Spanish. One piece of advice I give my students is not to think all native English speakers use correct grammar.

So many times, I hear horrendous grammatical constructs, such as during a televised football game when the announcer says something like “If I am the coach, I don’t call that play”. (A correct statement would be “If I were the coach, I wouldn’t call that play.”)

Also, the current trend to use “they/them” as a third person singular pronoun is wrong. (There are three third person singular pronouns: he/him, she/her, it/it.)

Nevertheless, the grammar construction I dislike the most is the current need to turn nouns into verbs. Examples:

Incorrect: I gifted her a bracelet.

Correct: I gave her a bracelet.

Incorrect: I texted her.

Correct: I sent her a text.

Incorrect: She emailed me.

Correct: She sent me an email.

Incorrect: He phoned me.

Correct: He called me on the phone.

Incorrect: I Googled it.

Correct: I searched for it on Google.