Actually, I saw it as more of a BDSM thing, but I guess that just shows my own state of mind. 
To clarify again, if you are into the BDSM thing, then I say beat away!
(or is it “than I say beat away”??)
Oh well, anywho, is there a safe word?
Quick and brutal suggestion: Given them a list of common mistakes and the proper vs. improper ways to use various words. Give them a week - or two, I dunno - to get stuff figured out. Then give them a test on the stuff. Go over the results with them. Give them another week. Have them write a few paragraphs highlighting use of the proper way to use x, y, z and whatever else. Dock them five points (I am assuming you use a 100-point scale for these essays?) for every listed mistake they make. Rinse, repeat.
Incidentally, how popular/accepted is social promotion?
My ex and I used “toaster” as our safe word.
Also, getting back to the OP a bit, I have another nitpick that I’ve noticed since moving up north. I’m from Alabama, and I’m not sure if this is a regional thing, but there are a few people in my office that use the word draw to mean drawer.
For example, I received an email asking about my file draws. I thought maybe I was looking at it wrong, or perhaps it was a typo, but in subsequent emails, each time the word drawers is meant, the word draws has been typed. This has happened with more than one person, so it’s not just the same person typing this thing over and over. After I started paying attention to the typing, I started listening to the speech, and wouldn’t you know it? The same people even say ‘file draws’ instead of ‘file drawers’. Is this a normal thing?
I think I’m losing my mind.
While we’re on the subject, that should be “There is a heaping helping” or “there are heaping helpings.”
Carry on.
Yes yes. I added that phrase after I had the verb in place. In my own defense, at least I didn’t say “There’s heaping helpings”
Or, even worse, “Theirs heaping helpings.”
I had considered grammar quizes or some such, but it is too late now and frankly I don’t have the time/energy for it here at the end of the semester.
I don’t know what you mean by “social promotion.”
For “prolonging the inevitable”? Nah, I think that’s just a mistake on the part of the speaker; it’s just hard for me to imagine anyone saying that routinely, and I’ve never heard it myself. “Delaying the inevitable” or “postponing the inevitable”, yes - and they make perfect sense when you regard them word-by-word. But “prolonging the inevitable”? I appreciate your non-prescriptivist stance, LHoD, but there is such a thing as simply making a mistake when speaking.
“Anymore” used in that sense, though, simply strikes me as a normal informal usage. It’s certainly quite common, especially in the midwest. Standard English might not permit it, but it’s definitely a regular grammatical feature of some dialects.
The “anymore” construction sounds horribly stilted and just plain wrong to me. Incidentally, I have never heard that construction before opening this thread. Whether it comes at the beginning or end of the sentence, it’s just plain yucky. I don’t think anyone would ever say that round these parts.
As to the first, I’ve heard that before, and it doesn’t bother me as much.
Social promotion means passing a student to the next grade, regardless of whether they’ve passed enough of their classes, because (so the theory goes) if you leave a student behind in the same grade they were in the previous year, they won’t learn to interact with others of their age, which will impact negatively on their social development.
I see now that I didn’t mention that I teach Intro Philosophy at the college level. Is this social promotion the official policy at any real schools? It’s not an issue for me. I won’t be passing anyone who hasn’t done the work.
Official policy? My understanding is that it isn’t official policy anywhere. I’ve met more than one casualty of the system, though, including at least three people who still couldn’t do the work years after they graduated. One of them is illiterate (mentally disabled, I understand), one of them just got no help whatsoever in school and a third, at least partially as a result of poor schooling, was homeless for about 20 years.
I wish I were shocked that your students are in college, but having seen some grotty writing from non-freshmen, there’s not a lot that could surprise me these days. If it’s important to you, I recommend doing something about it early next term if it manifests itself again.
Well, it wouldn’t be an issue at college, where students are presumably as socialized as they’re ever going to be (big assumption, in some cases). This is about grade school kids, whose personalities are still being formed. In college, and in high school for that matter, different students follow different courses of study. In grade school, every grade level has the same basic agenda, with adjustments for level of ability. Getting “left back” at that age can bring a lot of grief from one’s classmates.
[Total Freaking Hijack]
I loved Intro Philosophy. It was quite possibly the easiest class I had that counted toward my major (Mechanical Engineering).
IME, all that was required to pass the course was to;
a.) Breathe
b.) Have an opinion.
In the case that you didn’t have an opinion you were allowed, or even encouraged, to use someone else’s.
Not to denigrate your profession, I did learn a number of useful, interesting things in the class. It was just so much fun watching the kids fresh out of high school resisting having their minds expanded. I fully expected some of them to put their fingers in their ears and shout “La la la la la, I can’t hear you, la la la la la!”
[/TFH]
Oh yeah, the OP! :o
The spelling, grammar, syntax, semantics, etc. errors in written text seem to :smack: me right between the eyes. The only problem I have with this board is that I’ve gotten so used to seeing mis-uses of then/than, effect/affect, there/their/they’re and so forth, that I have stopped noticing them (or being as outraged by them, anyway). It feels like I are getting dummer.
Okay, by a show of hands, how many other people interrupt their VP’s Powerpoint presentations to correct their spelling/math errors?
Hmmm, just me? Alllll-righty then.
This should probably be a seperate thread, but I’m far too lazy for that. Rilchiam, you seem to think that this is an acceptable reason for promoting kids through grades even though they couldn’t do the work. Do you think that this is supportable?
Rhubarb, I’m glad that you liked it. I try to makeit virtually painless for them, but there is only so much that I can do if they refuse to think. I make it abundantly clear that philosophy is hard and they should come to me if they have problems with concepts/arguments/etc. They don’t do it for the most part. If this “social promotion” is to blame for this then it must be stopped.
I did not state an opinion one way or the other. I told you the reasoning others use to support social promotion in elementary schools. I chose to reply to your post mainly to explain why it wouldn’t be a consideration at your level. Don’t lay this at my feet.
Emphasis mine. That’s an unnecessary comma. Think of it this way:
“The only problem I have is that I’ve seen so many errors, that I have stopped noticing…”
You’ve got a compound object, so the temptation is to put a comma after it to distinguish it from the rest of the sentence. However, that’s an improper use of the comma.
I tend not to interrupt people’s stuff so much as that a paper copy of something I’m given will almost inevitably end up suffering from the wrath of my pen (I always carry a pen if I’m not in my apartment). Unless, of course, it would be inappropriate to do so. However, tests, quizzes, hand-outs … those get marked up, yes. If I don’t correct the stuff I find it much harder to concentrate.
Ah toald yew ah were gettin dummer. :smack:
Although, I would argue (incorrectly, as you have demonstrated) that the comma usage is irregular rather than improper.
Or, to paraphrase Churchill “That sir, is the type of errant pedantry up with which I shall not put!” 