My intellectual ability regarding the English language never rested strongly with spelling or the dissection of sentences for grammatical precision. When spell check became a widely utilized software application, the nightmare commonly experienced – a plethora of red marks on graded classwork and homework - became a thing of the past. The frustration at knowing the meanings of vocabulary above my grade-level, but not how to spell the words, was strongly diminished by the spell check as well. This useful program was soon developed to judge errors in grammar and, though quite limited in this aspect, likewise for punctuation, but that still did not aid a student to decipher parts of speech: a participle, superlative, conjunctive clause, or a… Is the noun “lake” a place or a thing? Does it really matter as long as you use the word correctly? Where are commas “supposed” to go?

The English language has many peculiar rules of spelling and many words that follow no discernable pattern of spelling at all. I was stymied for the longest time on the occurrences of when the last “r” in prefer, defer, refer, etc. should be doubled to structure other modes of the terms correctly. Why are the verb forms of speech spelled “speak” and “spoke”? Why do we double the “m” to make “swim” to be “swimming”? Creating the plural form of a noun is not often a straight-forward exercise:

“wolf” becomes “wolves”

“foot” alters to “feet”

“deer” stays “deer”

“cherub” pluralizes to “cherubim”

“die” alters to “dice”

“curriculum” turns out to be “curricula”

“smithereens”, “pliers”, and “clothes” do not have a singular form.

The person or persons originally responsible for the “I before e” nonsense should have been shot on sight. The possessive structure of words or names ending in “s” will sometimes only require an apostrophe and other times the apostrophe followed by another “s”. A very apt quote for those of us with a minimum spelling acuity, but a large vocabulary, is, “Synonyms are words we use when we can’t spell the word we want.”

If words would be spelled how they sound, spell check would seem less like a lifeline and more like a minor precaution. However, the melting pot of cultures that have made the English language the exasperating maze that it is, have provided us with over 300,000 possible vocabulary, as recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, currently with twenty volumes. The exact spelling of English words has not only been influenced by other languages and dialects, but also by copy oversights of scribes hundreds of years ago, by royal decree, and even by the whims of dictionary editors. Analyze the way you pronounce words. Do you say “per-form” or “pre-form”? Is “restaurant” enunciated as the spelling suggests? “Tongue” rhymes with “rung”, but its spelling…

A homonym is a word that has the same or very similar pronunciation as one or more other occupants of the dictionary, but each of the vocabulary has a distinctly different spelling or meaning:

A man’s wife “bared” all their private concerns to her friends on a regular basis; this made the knowing stares he received at friendly gatherings difficult to “bear”.

“They’re” going to the grocery store in order “to” pick up “two” gallons of milk; while “there”, they will probably pick up dessert for “their” family’s dinner tonight “too”.

John Roberts, a kind man with whom I have a passing acquaintance, asked if I would “accept” his hand in marriage; I might have considered doing so, “except” for my lack of knowledge regarding his personal finances and depth of character.

Personal knowledge and application of English grammar - including parts of speech, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. – may come more from instinct than repetitious classroom drills. My relationship with grammar is basic: either the sentence looks and sounds correct or it does not. Still, researching the rules of this forbidding subject can be a wise decision, when planning to compose for a significant audience. Allow me to share with you some grammatical issues that I often despair of mastering.

First, I will occasionally record a sentence that ends in a preposition and be forced to choose to rewrite that sentence or let it stand. Which is better: “That is something of which I will not put up” or “That is something I will not put up with”? How about: “From where did that dog come?“ or “Where did that dog come from?”

Other than prepositions, knowing which word is the right one to use at a certain point in a sentence can strongly depend on tedious rules of grammar. Why do some words beginning with “h” require the article “an” rather than “a”? We write “an” herb and “an” hour. The grammar check feature on my spell checker loves to argue over or/nor, which/that, and who/whom. To any of you who have figured that all out, I applaud you!

Possibly, the rules of punctuation are more argued over than those of grammar. These “rules” are not set in stone, but rather change as much as from decade to decade, depending on what use is in vogue at the time. I remember in school, I would have an English teacher one year that would promote a liberal use of commas, while another year my English teacher would abhor any sentence with more than two or three commas, regardless of whether the grammar manual agreed with her or not. I have since concluded that commas should generally follow the speech pattern of the sentence; if you would pause at a particular point in the sentence when reading aloud, you should insert a comma at that point.

I was never taught the appropriate use of the dash in sentences, other than its occasional use in words like “eight-year-old” and “over-the-counter” or to separate a lengthy word between syllables, connecting two written lines, if the word would not fit all on the first line. I decided a few months ago to brush up on my grammar skills, since I was helping some young cousins with their schoolwork on a regular basis. This led me to the investigation of a few grammar-related books and websites. Through this exploration, I discovered that dashes can be used to replace commas to put greater emphasis on certain blocks of text or insert relevant information where it is needed (much like with parentheses). I had always thought the use of dashes was outmoded until, through inquiry on this hypothesis, found the use common in professional works: news articles, scientific studies, etc. For a time, I went dash-happy in my writings, but was advised by a proof-reader that dashes often interrupted the congruity of the documents. Now, I consider carefully whenever I feel the need to include a dash.

How many of you have questioned my usage of punctuation marks outside of quote marks throughout this work? The rule for quotes, as applies here, is that the punctuation goes inside the quotes only if it will not change the meaning of what the quote marks emphasize. I’ve used these marks to highlight or bring attention to specific spelling or grammar examples. Incorporating quote marks in these instances may have sewed confusion within the examples, so I chose to leave any additional punctuation required outside the embrace of the quote marks. This is a Case in point of how punctuation is often subjective, relying on the judgment of the writer.

I did not intend such a lengthy document on my miffs over spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Still, getting these observations and complaints on paper has made me view my personal deficiencies on the subjects with fewer feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, intolerance and general dissatisfaction. Perhaps this composition will promote in you a greater understanding of our language and provide you with some resources to broaden your spelling, grammatical, and punctuation horizons. Feel free to share your own remarks on these topics in the comment section, further down the page.

SOME INFORMATIVE AND SOMETIMES FUN RESOURCES:

- All About the English Language – Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia

- Oxford English Dictionary – Official Website

- Man Reads Entire 20-Volume Oxford English Dictionary (article)

- The Pioneers Who Would Not Be Lost for Words – A Brief History of the Oxford English Dictionary (article)

- How You Can Help to Save Some Cherished Words from Being Obliterated out of the Collins Dictionary (aricle)

- The Free Dictionary.com

- English Spelling: Hard to Learn, Full of Oddities, and A Glorious Portal to History (article)

- Words with Unusual Forms

- Learn about Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs and Heteronyms

- Learn English Grammar

- The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Website

- It's Not Always Wrong to End a Sentence with a Preposition