Cliff said (November 15, 2011):

Thank you for your article on grammar. It amazes me that anything gets done in our culture given that the generation of the last 20 or 30 years lack the basic skills of communication;
reading, writing, speaking and the use of math in their everyday lives. I've worked with young engineers who wield great authority in their fields of expertise who are absolutely unable to write a simple sentence.

Recently I read that handwriting skills in one State are being removed from the required training in elementary schools. How sad that few ponder, or at least that's the way it appears to me, whether this will be an even more serious problem in the future. The advancement of humankind is the result of their ability to communicate with one another. I have yet to see creatures in the animal kingdom cultivate the advancements that humans have.

Interesting though is the fact that while the animal world makes no such profound advancements, neither do they wage massive strategic wars against like species and otherwise; unlike the human race!

Ed said (October 19, 2011):

Many years ago, when I was in the Army, I got into a certain amount of trouble, and my security clearance was pulled. After some effort on my part, the clearance was reinstated by the relevant authorities in Seventh Army (in Germany, during the Cold War). There was a certain officer who had it in for me, however, and my clearance was again pulled, this time by a higher headquarters Stateside. They were going to change my job description, and put me in a job that would have essentially consisted of doing dirty work for the rest of my time in the Army. I was, however, given the opportunity to write a rebuttal to the charges against me. The justification for pulling the clearance this second time was so flimsy as to be grotesque, so it was a simple matter for me to haul out my Olympia portable and type up my rebuttal, which consisted of about a half-page of serviceable prose. (I didn't write as well thirty-five years ago as I do today; I've been learning.) I presented my rebuttal to the young lieutenant at the Judge Advocate General office on my post, and his comment was "What does that word mean?" I got my clearance back. I dare say that most of my peers would have lost a case like mine, simply because most of them could not write a sentence.

This of course is deliberate on the part of the system. My suspicion is that the power elite have nostalgia for the medieval days, when the people in charge knew what was going on and the serfs were superstitious and ignorant, and are working through the "education" system to bring back this state of affairs.

Debra said (October 18, 2011):

Does false grammar signify decadence? Absolutely, yes. I agree with you Henry and, would add, the N.W.O. is bent on confusion and misunderstanding.

As you know, I am for reinstating God's Laws, but the Bible is read not in a true, proper historical context, but as one-liner axioms. Too often, intelligent people refuse to take time to properly fault facts; instead lash out or most often turn away from productive conversation or argument of facts. The same is true for grammar or distinct subtleties of languages used to persuade and influence. Similar to principles of reason found in 2+2 = 4, the use of language should join not divide people.

The new generation has trouble counting, as well. Counting-out of change in the markets is rare without the use of a register thinking for people instead of an effort of people thinking themselves.

Thus, I am "Waiting For Jesus":-
http://shelteringcedar.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/waiting-for-jesus/

Marcos said (October 18, 2011):

Here in Brazil the Ministry of Education (the same that produced gay movies for school children) issued a grammar book that stated that grammar was a bourgeois tool for domination of the masses and that saying "we gets the fishes" is just as correct.

This is all done by design. It is Marxist strategy.
Conservatives have a hard time understanding how Marxists easily say and do things that are apparently contradictory. The Ministry of Education says they want to improve the condition of the poor by education, but also say that education is not important. How come ?

Marxist discourse is based on Hegelian dialectics. Conservative need things to make sense, but for the Marxist, only the end (power) is what matters. They give money to the poor and at the same time follow the instructions of the bankers. It doesn't matter, as long as they:

1) create cognitive dissonance in the minds of people, who eventually stop thinking from pure despair,
2) link all their actions, however contradictory, to a feel good, demagogic superficial reason that makes them look like saints,
3) destroy all institutions, common sense, logical thinking, old values, so the only alternative is to follow the directives they impose.

Conservatives see these things and react grouchy old men, calling Marxists fools who lost their minds, when the opposite is true.

It is time for Conservatives to start studying seriously the strategy of Marxists, or we will be blaming their actions on "the dissolution of morals", "the evil times of today", etc. Never take for truth what they say, observe what they do. Read their books. Connect the dots. And always remember that nothing happens by chance.

John said (October 18, 2011):

The slick Masonic/Luciferian corporate media feature nearly flawless grammar, of course---some people point to that fact and rationalize that “it’s the only trustworthy source of news”---after all, they often think, how can a blogger/independent source of information be believed with so many glaring errors of spelling and punctuation?

Extremely frustrating---there have been numerous times when I’ve been ready to send someone a link to an article with good info, only to cancel the idea due to a wincingly bad turn of phrase. It just seems to take a lot away from the impact of the message. The satanists surely smirk at this illiterate state of affairs.

Alan said (October 18, 2011):

My kids homework is getting more and more confusing, as the traditional teaching techniques are being changed, so that parents are less able to help their kids; because new methods change the whole approach to subjects including English.

Further, even the subject names are being changed, as an example Science was Biology, Chemistry and Physics; but they have to change to words like Environmental Science, Earth Science, etc. I went to school in Scotland in the 60's and 70's and we were still allowed to read the King James Bible, which has a lot of useful grammar built into the comprehension. The older classic dictionaries had a lot of true meaning of words and explanations, unfortunately the newer ones have been watered down to dumb us down. People continue the problem by watching TV instead of reading a good old fashioned book.

Lois said (October 17, 2011):

Thanks, I knew I wasn't the only one to notice! The change in spoken and written grammar is a constant irritant to me. I began to notice that words were being dropped from the language about ten years ago. This seems to be a coordinated effort. For example, news anchors older than I, began using phrases like "I graduated college in 1963", etc. Now, I graduated from high school in 1970 and I know these people never used to use poor English. They all started together. Did they get some sort of mandate? How hard would it be to change your speaking style after all those years? The other thing obviously missing are the adverbs. If I point this out, I get treated like an old crank. "Drive safe", "run quick", "I want that bad". It's becoming strange to the ear to hear "run quickly", "drive safely", "I want that badly". I'm no grammarian, but this drives me nuts on a daily basis. Thank you so much for this article!

Joseph said (October 17, 2011):

It was with great interest that I read your recent article concerning the lack of grammar skills in our current society. I have been repeatedly amazed at the generally poor writing ability of graduates from our nation's graduate programs. As an attorney, who has practiced for almost twenty-five years, I have witnessed the continual decline in the quality of written advocacy. Recently, an attorney, from a large, respected firm, commended me for my "incite" on an issue. This lack of proficiency with the language is becoming more prevalent every day. Sadly our reliance upon email and texting only makes the problem worse.

The appalling use of language is not only present in legal writing. I serve on a ministerial candidacy committee which evaluates individuals for rostered leadership within the church. As part of the process, we are required to evaluate written essays at several points in the candidacy journey. Sadly, much of the written work is of substandard quality. My understanding is that many of the seminaries are required to have remedial writing workshops to assist their students with their deficient writing skills. How one can reach graduate level programs with deficient writing ability is a tragic mystery.

I have always believed that the ability to express one's self is crucial for ordered society. Clarity of thought and expression is a goal to which we should all aspire. Sadly, our educational institutions have seemed to abandon this most basic element of classical education. Perhaps, your suggestion that this deficiency is by design should merit further investigation.

Sheska said (October 17, 2011):

I couldn't agree more that our cultural decline is apparent through the demise of correct grammar and spelling. Cultivation of stupidity involves the rewarding of the lazy, non-analytical, average student/person. "No Child Left Behind" is right... No child left behind as we enter into Idiocracy. No not the film, but the real scenario in which the film rubbed our nose. I'd classify that movie as a horror film. I was sure terrified when I saw that the people in that movie were just a step away from where we are now.

I am in my early 30's and thank my lucky stars that the tenets of proper grammar, spelling, excellent writing and creativity were still upheld. Only a couple years later and that all started sliding downhill very quickly. Parents must take the power back. The schools only aim to spit your kid out the other side of the conveyor belt, as a more stupid version of themselves.

Anna said (October 17, 2011):

Hear, hear! I completely agree; the amount of ostensibly educated people that do not know how to - or do not care to know how to - construct a sentence is horrifying.

Not only is it indicative of how stunningly dumbed-down our educational standards have become over the last few decades, but of how we have lost our manners. Sending someone a document full of spelling, grammatical and punctuational errors is rude, and it's arrogant - it signifies you didn't think they were important enough to bother getting it right for, because - such is the majestic splendour of what you have to say - it doesn't matter how clumsily or inarticulately you say it.

Most incriminating of all, perhaps, is the fact that English schools no longer teach English grammar. It is quite possible to achieve straight As in English Language throughout your secondary education without ever identifying a single verb, noun, or adjective. Indeed, most English people under the age of 35 can't - as I learned to my cost when I enrolled on a 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language' course. Having always considered myself 'good at English', I was appalled to learn that I knew almost nothing about the rules that held the language together - and certainly couldn't teach them. The same applied to every other 20-something British-born person in the class.

The fact is that non-native speakers, who have been taught English as a second (or even third) language at school, where they've had the grammar rules drummed into them, now have a sounder grasp of the language than those who speak it as a mother tongue. On my language course, these non-natives not only ended up teaching it to their students - but to us, their classmates, too! And this disparity is well known amongst our educators - when I was at University, the first thing one lecturer did one morning was ask: "Is anyone here not English?" When a smattering of hands went up, he exhaled an audible sigh of relief. "Thank God," He said. "You'll actually be able to write a decent essay then."

Mohammet, Durban SA said (October 17, 2011):

i think its all because people(esp kids) dont read much anymore before the internet, video games/consoles and smartphones etc, reading was more common.

nowadays, with the dumbing down of the educational system, technology seems to
be having an adverse effect on society
it was initially the sign of an intelligent, smart person -who could use technology
now its mostly the sign of brain dead zombies.
people who work in offices all day staring at a computer screen are also similar- cos they go home and then stare at the TV screen for a good number of hours.

i notice this with my nieces and nephews- they are intelligent and can understand lots of things but ask them to read n write.

not that they cant do it at all- but they are definitely NOT at the level youd expect them to be at.

Dawn said (October 17, 2011):

My biggest gripe is "it's" vs. "its". How difficult is that? What boggles my mind is that, in the same passage, people will use "its" where it should be "it's" and then use "it's" where it should be "its". Methinks it is a failure of LOGIC! This is structurally profound...and deep.

Dave said (October 17, 2011):

My mum was a sub-editor working on magazines and later became a history teacher. The grammar mistakes she encounters in the classroom upset her. I sent her your grammar article. Her reply:

'Love the article. It is true that grammar and spelling are not seen as important in secondary schools. I was told not to mark more than three mistakes on a page in case i upset their egos. However, private schools make sure their pupils have high standards.

I think it is a way to ensure all the best jobs go to children of the richer parents who can afford the private school fees. I should have pushed to send you to Princethorpe. I think you would have been happier.'

Kevin said (October 17, 2011):

Teacher's and school's routinely send out note's and paper's to the parent's written with apostrophe's identical to the one's in this very sentence. The vast majority of Americans 40 and under have no understanding of the 's and do not know that it is used either to show ownership or express a contraction of a word. Consequently, we are awash in 's. Sentences need to be read a number of times in hope of extracting their meaning.

An inability to communicate one's thoughts is simply a way of enacting Orwell's '1984'. As truth disappears down the memory hole, so does communication.

One day soon us serfs will be reduced to drawing stick figures on walls in hopes of making ourselves understood to one another. I hope I'm dead and buried by then. I can't draw worth a damn!

Fez said (October 17, 2011):

I have a son of 8 and a daughter of 4. Through the continued vigilance of my wife and I, my son is in the top reading and writing class in his year and my daughter is already well-advanced in being able to write her name and will follow suit when she begins "big" school in February.

We must all contribute to the improvement of the numeracy and literacy of our loved-ones, and we can do so by minimising our collective dependency on television and by encouraging our children to find fascination in the written word.