Old Joke:
Rover, lay down. Damn it, Rover, lay down.
Excuse me, Sir, but Rover is an English Bulldog; you'll have to tell him to LIE down.
Spelling test
I used to test spelling by dictating sentences with the spelling words in them. I used to say, "You pass the whole test if you write the first one correctly." And the first one would be a sentence with the three "theres" in it, such as "They're going over there to get their books."
I rarely had any student get all the words right.
A preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.
Pity the poor English teacher who went upstairs to put his daughter to bed, and heard her say, "Oh, Daddy, why did you bring that book I didn't want to be read to out of up for?"
When I was a speech therapist
Daughter: Daddy, I want a dwink of wadoo.
Me: You want a DWINK of WADDO?
Daughter: (Panicked) No, no. I want a drrrink of rrrater.
4 comments:
I have always heard that one should never end a sentence with a preposition. I didn't actually know what that meant until just recently. In all my years of elementary school grammar classes, I don't think we ever learned what a preposition was. It is only in the last few years that I have figured out what to do instead of ending a sentence that way.
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/
Dear Paul, (see comment below) When someone criticised Winston Churchill for ending a sentence with a preposition, he countered "This the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put."
"A preposition is a perfectly good word to end a sentence with." - I forget whose quote this is. - K.
Loved this entry. Your memories are fun for everyone.
I will comment on the grammar part. There is a gentleman in our military brat chat group who is a retired teacher. I thought he said he taught English, but he's constantly getting his "there's" mixed up. Bugs me no end, but I don't say anything. I didn't take English Grammar in college because of a poor background in the subject. We moved so often, I missed huge chunks of necessary stuff -- like diagramming!
Annie
Post a Comment