Re: Spelling and Grammar in our e-mails

[Larry Cartwright <exit60@CABLESPEED.COM>]

Michael Edmiston wrote:
> Student writes:   My data was pretty accurate.
> I write: Subject and verb don't agree in number.
> Student says:  Why did you write this, there aren't any
> numbers in this sentence?
> I say: Data is plural and was is singular.

I agree that we need to help students learn to avoid truly egregious
language habits they have picked up, but IMHO we do need to pick and
choose our battles.  We also need to be sure of our own linguistic
knowledge before we try to pass it along to students. Instructional time
is too precious to waste hassling students over non-issues.  To this
point, quoting from my Merriam Webster's Collegiate (1993):

"da-ta, n pl but sing or pl in constr ... <the data is plentiful and
easily available> <comprehensive data on economic growth have been
published> ..."
"usage- 'Data' leads a life of its own independent of 'datum', of which
it was originally the plural.  It occurs in two constructions: as a
plural noun ...; and as an abstract mass noun (like 'information'),
taking a singular verb and singular modifiers, and being referred to by
a singular pronoun.  Both constructions are standard."

Richard Zajac wrote:
> The second, more important issue is grammar.  The students'
> inability to distinguish between different grammatical
> constructions is deplorable  (e.g. verb tenses and different
> "levels of past").

The correct usage here is "distinguish *among* different grammatical
constructions", since there are more than two grammatical constructions
to distinguish.  Is this the kind of linguistic issue we should take
time to nit-pick with students?  I say again, we need to pick and choose
our battles.  ".. Our result should of been..." is obviously worth
pursuing in the students' best interests.

In my physics courses, I used to periodically insert short lessons on
technical writing, just 1 to 5 minutes at a time.  Some of the lessons
were proactive: "This is what I want to see, and this is what I don't
want to see."  Some of them were reactive:  "Here's an example of an
unacceptable usage I ran across in a report, and here's how it *should*
look."  Most students were responsive to these quickie grammar and
spelling workshops; they had the advantage over one-on-one correctives
of not triggering as much defensive over-reaction.

Teaching physics would be a lot easier if all one had to do is teach
physics, n'est-ce pas?

Best wishes,

Larry

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Larry Cartwright                    Retired Physics Teacher
<exit60@cablespeed.com>              Charlotte MI 48813 USA
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"We may in fact be remembered in 3003 for the space program
and little else. In Michael Hart's book The 100, where he
audaciously ranks the 100 most influential figures of all
time, John F. Kennedy makes the list - solely because of
the impetus he gave to the moon program ... How many people
today (after only 500 years) can tell you a single thing
about Ferdinand and Isabella ... beyond Columbus?"
           -- Tad Daley, Fellow, UCLA Center for Governance
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