After\na few conversations this week between me and others, I had to check into my\ngrammar usage. I\u2019m not a professional\nwriter \u2013 yet, but I always seem to think I know enough to write some decent\narticles and essays. I researched some\ncontroversial grammatical errors to see if I might be wrong and I\u2019m not sure I\nlike what I found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Split\nInfinitives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave always tried my best to possibly avoid split infinitives. Did you catch it? I just split an infinitive. The phrase \u201cto possibly avoid\u201d is a split\ninfinitive. I placed an adverb in\nbetween the infinitive \u201cto avoid\u201d. I\nfound out this week that sometimes, split infinitives are okay to use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How\ncan a split infinitive be okay? When is\nit okay? Rephrasing that phrase above is\nclumsy. I could have written \u201cto avoid\npossibly using split infinitives\u201d, but that doesn\u2019t sound right, does it? The rephrase actually changes the meaning of\nthe sentence. Or, I could have written\n\u201ctried my best possibly to avoid split infinitives\u201d. That sounds worse and doesn\u2019t seem to make\nany sense. Even the way it is written,\n\u201cto possibly avoid\u201d, is awkward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nreason why spilt infinitives are considered to be inappropriate grammar is that\nyou cannot split an infinitive in Latin. \nI didn\u2019t know that, and I took Latin I in high school. Sister Isiah gave me a \u201cD\u201d. The only thing I remember from my Latin days\nis \u201ctempus fugit\u201d \u2013 time flies. However,\nI did understand Latin enough to know about root words and how to easily figure\nout the meaning of a word by working around the root word (I slipped another\none in). Latin also helped me as a\nparalegal. A significant amount of\nlegalese is based in Latin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nmost famous split infinitive is the notorious \u201cTo boldly<\/em> go\u201d from Star\nTrek. I\u2019m not a Trekkie, but if millions\nof people throughout the world understand and accept that famous phrase, who am\nI to inanely<\/em> question it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dangling\nPrepositions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ending\na sentence with a preposition is another grammatical mistake I tend to\navoid. This isn\u2019t only when I\u2019m writing,\nbut when I speak, also. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m\nreminded of a joke you may have heard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n She:\n\u201cWhere ya from?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her:\n\u201cI\u2019m from a place where we don\u2019t end our sentences with prepositions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She:\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry. Where ya from, bitch?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nresearching for this blog, I discovered that it is now acceptable to end a\nsentence with a preposition, under certain circumstances, that is. What is this world coming to<\/em>? Oh, look what I did. Perhaps it is appropriate at times to leave a\npreposition hanging at the end. How else\nwould you phrase that question of where the world is going? \u201cThis world is coming to what?\u201d People might think you come from a foreign\ncountry speaking like that. Or, perhaps\nthey might think you were in another Star Trek planet in a far-off galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhad always thought this was Iowa talk. \nHowever, I see that it is common language all over the world. \u201cWhere you at?\u201d \u201cWhere you going to?\u201d Yes, the word \u201care\u201d is implied, which makes\nit a complete sentence, even though the preposition is hanging. But both sentences may be understood simply\nby leaving the prepositions \u201cat\u201d and \u201cto\u201d in the grammar box. I think I speak leaving prepositions behind. I rarely listen to myself. And let me apologize for beginning a previous\nsentence with a conjunction (But). Oh,\nmy, I did it again with the sentence prior to this one. Conjunctions should follow commas, not\nperiods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sympathy\/empathy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave to admit; I have never been very good at distinguishing the difference\nbetween empathy and sympathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Empathy is defined as \u201cthe\nability to understand and share the feelings of another.\u201d Can you understand or share<\/strong> feelings\nif you haven\u2019t been through the same experience? For instance, when asked about whether Iowa\nwould be a haven for immigrant children from Central American, former Iowa\nGovernor-for-life Terry Branstad said the “first thing we need to do is\nsecure the border. I do have empathy for these kids.\u201d Using that logic, that he knows what those\nchildren are feeling and sharing those feelings, could he then empathize with a\nwoman going through childbirth? Could he\nshare that feeling? If I should ask any\nwoman, I think she would say unpleasant things to me to mildly insinuate that\nGovernor Branstad could imagine such a feeling. \n(This is not a test, but did you notice I slipped a split infinitive in\nthere?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going back to the\nreference above about root words. \nEmpathy\u2019s root word is \u201cempath\u201d. \n\u201cAn empath is someone who is highly aware of the emotions of those\naround them, to the point of feeling those emotions themselves.\u201d Or, an Empath<\/a> is a creature on Star Trek. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sympathy has two\nmeanings; 1. \u201cfeelings of pity and sorrow for someone else\u2019s misfortune.\u201d And, 2. \u201cunderstanding between people; common\nfeeling.\u201d I think it\u2019s that second\nmeaning that confuses people when attempting to properly use the correct\nword. (I did it again; I used a split\ninfinitive.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several times I have\nseen empathy used when a person means sympathy, and I\u2019ve witnessed people using\nsympathy when they mean to use empathy. I\nhave now self-taught myself to be confused about the two words and their meanings,\nespecially since it is now determined by grammar police that the two are\nsomewhat interchangeable. I give\nup. The best suggestion I have to avoid\ngetting empathy and sympathy mixed up is to never use either and look at both\nwith apathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grammar is becoming a\nlost art. So many of those English\ngrammar skills that nuns taught me are pass\u00e9. \nIt makes me feel that by just throwing words together that follow no\nrules could be the beginning of a career in writing Hip-Hop music. Music? \nDid I really put music in the same sentence as Hip-Hop?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other grammatical\ntragedies<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t like it when\nauthors use an incomplete sentence for effect. \nI\u2019m sticking to that objection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andy Rooney, of Sixty\nMinutes fame, once had a small segment on proper grammar. I\u2019ll never forget how he suggested some of us\nneed to live in the real world. He\nadmitted that when he walked into the house he yelled to his wife: \u201cIt\u2019s me\u201d,\ninstead of the grammatically correct, \u201cIt is I.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I learned a lot from Andy Rooney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a few conversations this week between me and others, I had to check into my grammar usage. I\u2019m not a professional writer \u2013 yet, but I always seem to think I know enough to write some decent articles and … Continue reading