Grammar
I have a love/hate relationship with those who are gifted in grammar. In 2008, I was part of a group writing a history book of some important people buried in Greenwood Cemetery. A relative of one of the families we were writing about asked to see the draft copy before we printed the book. After reading about two sentences, she saw a need. In her subtle, yet direct way she suggested it might be good if she cleaned up some of my grammar. I agreed without hesitation. After all, how many errors could there be? (I had graduated high school, partly because Mrs. Inglis, my English teacher, saw no reason to hold me back in some hope that diagramming sentences would somehow drift into my consciousness, sub or otherwise.) After she went through the draft copy, there were more red pencil marks in the books than words it seemed. And after I corrected all of those, she went through it again with a whole new box of red pencils. I was thankful for her help and have used someone gifted in grammar etiquette for each of the books we have published at Greenwood since.
In Bible translation, there are “word for word” translations and “thought for thought” translations. Obviously, some translations focus on getting the words right even if the translation is not as readable as some would like. And others focus on getting the thought right, even if some words that are substituted may not be technically correct.
I took a semester of typing when I was in high school. I learned at that time that “everyone” put two spaces between sentences. Now, Microsoft and some of my friends have decided that one space is correct. It has been a few years (I started on a manual typewriter) since I took that typing class and I don’t think my fingers will allow me to do just one space. My rule is, if you are going to make a rule, then stick with it. No changing in mid-stream. And that is a rule that I stick to without fail…most of the time.
I am asking you to read these blogs as a “thought for thought” exercise without getting hung up on every grammar error I make. I promise to do better than Facebook grammar with its problems with “your” and “you’re”, “there” and “their”, etc. As an observation, no two grammarians agree on every jot or tittle either. I figure that if they cannot agree, then my life is way too short to seek to please everyone and feel quite proud of myself if I please anyone.
I say these things to remind you to read my words as best possible, ignore my grammatical mistakes, and together we can discuss what God wants to do in our lives. And no, it is not His calling on my life that I be a better grammarian. I have peeps for that.