As we continued our walk I reflected on other times I had seen quotation marks misused-mostly as attention getting devices ("huge" sale!). Then I was reminded of some recent comments I had read on Facebook...usually with one person stating a pet peeve ("I can't stand the misuse of there/their/they're!") and another person agreeing ("I know! How hard is it?")
One ironic post was of someone complaining about the incorrect use of "its" and "it's". The comment stated boldly, "How hard is it too learn?" or something to that effect. Hilarious, and yet so irritating. I saw myself in those comments, quick to judge and yet as imperfect a writer as you could find. The only person I would vent to when I noticed the occasional misspelled sign or poorly written article, however, was my husband. And I was always careful to read and edit anything I wrote for fear of a misspelled word or misplaced quotation mark.
Seeing and reflecting on the garage sale sign helped me realize just how imperfect I am when it comes to punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. After all, a typical junior high English teacher would probably run out of red ink correcting the misuse of parenthesis and quotation marks in this short rumination. Nowadays I'm careful about criticizing that with which I struggle myself, especially in a public forum. I also have ceased wasting energy noting and commenting on other people's mistakes. Don't we all struggle with something when it comes to the written word? Whether you're feeling "good"or "bad" (are you going to give to the poor or torment a cat, then?) or telling your child to lay on the rug and lying the book on the table (I'm still not sure which is correct) or asking who or whom this pair of pants belongs to.
When I achieve perfection in all I write or say I might resume being irked by other's mistakes.
Until then, I think I'll keep my inner editor to myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment