Grammar

An inveterate meddler, I stepped into a minor controversy on Twitter today about the use of periods or, as our colleagues across the water call them, full stops.  Someone innocently inquired of @guardianstyle, "Full stop at the end of a bullet point?" To which @guardianstyle replied, "Yes. Every time. Like this. " Seemed sensible enough to me, but Patrick Neylan, tweeting as @AngrySubEditor, demurred: "I disagree. If it's not a sentence, it has no right to claim a full stop.

The day of my first piano lesson, I picked out "Yankee Doodle," right hand only. It would be insane to start a  beginner with one of Bach's partitas or one of Lizst's Hungarian rhapsodies. One starts simply and progresses by stages as far as one's inclination, abilities, application, and instruction go. Yet in teaching writing and editing to undergraduates, I find many who have not managed to advance very far beyond the "Yankee Doodle" stage. I fault two things: misguided instruction and the prevalence of fussbudgetry.

Jonathan R. Freeman didn't mind teaching grammar, but he hated the textbooks. And he was fairly sure his students hated them, too -- if not the whole subject.So, "in a six-week blitzkrieg" two summers ago, the Bryn Mawr School teacher created his own text tailored to his students and to his approach to teaching, which is considerably more lighthearted than that of most grammarians.Out of the sweat of that summer came "GRAMMARRRRGGHH!!!!! a guidebook for students lost in the land of language."

Kudos to KellyEditor: Thank you, thank you for the articles from Jacques Kelly. We have thoroughly enjoyed going back with him and remembering things gone by.I have since purchased his book and have given copies to friends who, too, have enjoyed the articles.Mrs. Thomas A. KnottEllicott City----------Editor: "Jacques Kelly's Baltimore" is almost worth the price of your paper. Keep him. (No, I never met him and I'm not his cousin!)Tom O'RourkeCockeysvilleLetters to the editor should include name, address and daytime phone number.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), was born in Dorset, England, to common rural folk. His mother taught him to read at three and by the time he finished grammar school, he knew the classics, French, and German. In 1856, he was apprenticed to a Dorchester and then a London architect, but despite winning awards, he was determined to be a writer. Hardy published his first novel at 31. His simple origins proved indispensable to his writing. His empathetic depiction of country people in The Return of the Native (1878)

Each week The Sun's  John McIntyre  presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar - another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: MINATORY No doubt you had such a teacher as Mrs. Jessie Perkins. She taught me in the fifth and sixth grades, and when she stood at the blackboard, illustrated a point of grammar or arithmetic, and said, "That's all there is to it," fixing us with a look that brooked no dissent, we shrank from her minatory gaze.

Howard Finberg of the Poynter Institute has published a thoughtful and provocative article on the future of journalism education , which I commend to you. I myself have no overarching framework or plan to suggest, but I have one small suggestion: Teach editing. I see hands raised in the back of the room. "What?" you say. "Isn't editing a basic skill for journalists? What do you mean, start teaching it?" Ah, we have civilians present. I should explain. Journalism schools teach reporting and feature writing and editorial writing and things like that.

GIBSONBURG, Ohio -- They (my eighth-graders) say, ''It don't make no difference how we talk.'' I say, ''Oh yes it do.'' They say, ''You just used bad grammar!'' I say, ''How's come ya' notice it when I use it but you don't never hear it when you do it?''They say, ''Whatta' we need to talk so perfect for, anyway?'' I say, ''Because you will be forever judged by the way you speak and if you use poor grammar you will be branded ignorant.''They say, ''So what? Everybody at my house talks the same way I do. Are you calling my family ignorant?

IT IS TIME ONCE AGAIN for Ask Mister Language Person, the advice column written by the world's No. 1 foremost leading authority on grammar, syntax, podiatry and using big words to physically harm your opponent. In just a few moments, we'll answer some language questions sent in by concerned readers that we made up. But first we have the following important "Y2K" advisory:Many experts are concerned about how the Y2K problem will affect grammar. A federal task force has studied this question and recently released a report concluding that beginning Jan. 1, 2000, there could be "widespread, sporadic shortages of words."

Comptroller Peter Franchot wants Maryland schools to teach financial literacy. Maybe they should start with regular literacy, as even those at the top echelons of government in this state do not understand basic grammar. The former head of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, Prince George's County's Ulysses Currie, successfully relied on an "I am dumb" legal defense to explain in federal court why he didn't follow simple ethics rules about reporting outside income. The latest politician to fall prey to grammar is Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola, a lawyer who is running for the Democratic nomination for the 6th District congressional race.