I asked her after the kids left, why, why would you do this? "That is how you are supposed to type, it is how I learned." Okay lady, sure, 40 years ago, on a typewriter you had to do that, because typewriters put characters too close sometimes or something, you don't do that with MS Word. If you teach these kids to do this, they are going to have their *** blown out when they get to college.
Also no, they still teach this and still mark it wrong if you don't do it in college. Also you still do it in word.
There's the prescriptive way to grammar and the descriptive way to grammar, and this applies to typing styles as well. Prescriptive says that there are rules that we must follow and these are rules set up by panels of experts and linguists. This is the way that we would use grammar to introduce to people. That being said, the descriptive approach identifies that language and technology changes and that the rules need to change with it. Think of it as prescriptive = Oxford dictionary and descriptive = Merriam-Webster. Oxford is staunch and rigid; unflappable. Merriam-Webster on the other hand in 1998 adopted the word "jiggy" after Will Smith's song was popularized.
I for one side with the descriptive approach. Language changes. So does technology. Lill is right about the typewriter to word processor adaptation. That being said, technically you're both right. As to professors getting aggressive about it, you'll find that they change from professor to professor just as teachers' approaches will change. Jet, the professor who was aggressive towards you in ensuring double spacing between sentences is probably a staunch prescriptivist. That's his/her preference, no matter how much they drone on about what's right and what's wrong. I had a professor who wanted me to use footnotes even though before that point I had never used them in my entire life. Professors are weird and they want what they think is right, even though it varies from person to person.
If it were me, I'd care less about the format and focus on what is actually important: the content. If it follows MLA procedure, great. That just means paragraph spacing is double, the font is Times New Roman 12 point font, it has a header with the last name and page number and a heading with the full name, teacher's name, class and date. Beyond that, one space or two... who gives a flying ducky.
There's the prescriptive way to grammar and the descriptive way to grammar, and this applies to typing styles as well. Prescriptive says that there are rules that we must follow and these are rules set up by panels of experts and linguists. This is the way that we would use grammar to introduce to people. That being said, the descriptive approach identifies that language and technology changes and that the rules need to change with it. Think of it as prescriptive = Oxford dictionary and descriptive = Merriam-Webster. Oxford is staunch and rigid; unflappable. Merriam-Webster on the other hand in 1998 adopted the word "jiggy" after Will Smith's song was popularized.
I for one side with the descriptive approach. Language changes. So does technology. Lill is right about the typewriter to word processor adaptation. That being said, technically you're both right. As to professors getting aggressive about it, you'll find that they change from professor to professor just as teachers' approaches will change. Jet, the professor who was aggressive towards you in ensuring double spacing between sentences is probably a staunch prescriptivist. That's his/her preference, no matter how much they drone on about what's right and what's wrong. I had a professor who wanted me to use footnotes even though before that point I had never used them in my entire life. Professors are weird and they want what they think is right, even though it varies from person to person.
If it were me, I'd care less about the format and focus on what is actually important: the content. If it follows MLA procedure, great. That just means paragraph spacing is double, the font is Times New Roman 12 point font, it has a header with the last name and page number and a heading with the full name, teacher's name, class and date. Beyond that, one space or two... who gives a flying ducky.
I concur on both approaches really.
As for the dictionaries:
I find the real purpose of a dictionary is to evolve with language, but some say that words are set in stone, but hey, who am I?
I just am aware of that it was and is still taught, in fact I wasn't even aware that single-spacing was allowed anywhere until just when I read it.
I've considered finishing college (I'm a slacker) and also going and getting a certification so I could teach math or computer stuff. I enjoy showing others how to do things, and well my current career path is "meh."
Real talk: we need maths teachers! That being said, kids can... be a handful. Have you done any internships?
As like teaching? No.
I was thinking teenagers and up.
My kid is a handful on her own, a whole room of them would be interesting. I may just do something like get licensed and do math tutoring or something though.
Stray observation, I've noticed when quoting people in P&R that double space after a period is much more common amongst the vocal conservative posters.
There's the prescriptive way to grammar and the descriptive way to grammar, and this applies to typing styles as well. Prescriptive says that there are rules that we must follow and these are rules set up by panels of experts and linguists. This is the way that we would use grammar to introduce to people. That being said, the descriptive approach identifies that language and technology changes and that the rules need to change with it. Think of it as prescriptive = Oxford dictionary and descriptive = Merriam-Webster. Oxford is staunch and rigid; unflappable. Merriam-Webster on the other hand in 1998 adopted the word "jiggy" after Will Smith's song was popularized.
I for one side with the descriptive approach. Language changes. So does technology. Lill is right about the typewriter to word processor adaptation. That being said, technically you're both right. As to professors getting aggressive about it, you'll find that they change from professor to professor just as teachers' approaches will change. Jet, the professor who was aggressive towards you in ensuring double spacing between sentences is probably a staunch prescriptivist. That's his/her preference, no matter how much they drone on about what's right and what's wrong. I had a professor who wanted me to use footnotes even though before that point I had never used them in my entire life. Professors are weird and they want what they think is right, even though it varies from person to person.
If it were me, I'd care less about the format and focus on what is actually important: the content. If it follows MLA procedure, great. That just means paragraph spacing is double, the font is Times New Roman 12 point font, it has a header with the last name and page number and a heading with the full name, teacher's name, class and date. Beyond that, one space or two... who gives a flying ducky.
I concur on both approaches really.
As for the dictionaries:
I find the real purpose of a dictionary is to evolve with language, but some say that words are set in stone, but hey, who am I?
I just am aware of that it was and is still taught, in fact I wasn't even aware that single-spacing was allowed anywhere until just when I read it.
I dread the day Bae gets recognized as an actual word.
Kids over here in the Uk are using it to refer to their girl/boyfriend, as some sort of short for babe, Before Anyone Else. It's stupid because it doesn't mean anything close to that, but it's common among kids.
Oh, I know. I'm just a smartass. My students used to use it all the time until I started using it while teaching them Romeo and Juliet. They stopped using it shortly thereafter.
The key to getting teenagers to stop doing something is to do that very same thing. Adults are uncool, ergo that thing is no longer cool. That's how I stopped bae, yolo and psych (the last one was personal because they were using it all wrong and were spelling it as "sike".
This is a thread that I found on another website I post at. It can be really really interesting. I thought it deserved a place here.
Post your random thoughts for the day here, or anything else that intrigues you.
For starters, is it possible to give constructive critism to someone who doesn't have a neck? I totally just walked by a girl who didn't. Someone isn't getting a necklace for Valentines day!
And who decided black and white can't be colors? I want to say a racist. I really do.
