All the Writings

Nevertheless, never never the less

December 13, 2017

Pondering Grammar

I must bring to your attention another pet peeve of mine. There are a number of words in the English language that are compound words, but are apparently quite confusing for most people to write. They are not sure if they should be written as one word or separate words.

Nevertheless is one of these. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s one word. Along with it are synonyms (or at least close in meaning) nonetheless and notwithstanding. I suppose I can see how people could be confused by these words, especially if they were never specifically taught. Perhaps that means teachers need to take the time to introduce students to these wonderful words.

Most of us are likely resistant to running words together like this. As we’re taught from kindergarten – ‘Make sure you leave a finger space!’

Moreover, hereafter and heretofore are other examples of compound words that confound people. Wherewithal is another odd one; and I often see insofar and inasmuch written with separate words.

I find it interesting that these words likely ended up written like this due to being run together when spoken until people started writing them as one word. But now many are trying to separate them; while at the same time, other words like ‘a lot’ and ‘all right’ are being squished together.

I must confess, I’m resistant to using alot and alright. I don’t think they look right. I don’t think they should be used in good writing. I’ll probably be overruled on this at some point, but I’ll probably stick to my archaic spellings.

To stick with the theme of compound words, I offer this wondrous word: aforementioned.

Please remember to write the aforementioned words as one word.

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Parameters of Sign

May 31, 2017

Tips from the Terp

Just as spoken words have rules for pronunciation, so signed languages have rules for the correct formation of words. If you bend or break these rules you change the meaning of the words.

In American Sign Language, we call these particular rules the ‘Parameters of Sign.’ These are:
1. Movement
2. Location
3. Palm Orientation
4. Non-Manual Markers, and
5. Space

I was taught a handy mnemonic to remember these: ‘Mother Loves Plants with No More Spiders.’

I’m going to use the word NICE* as a base sign to demonstrate how changing any of these parameters (even just one) changes the meaning of what you’re signing.

The sign NICE has specific movement, location, palm orientation, non-manual markers and space that give it meaning.

The word NICE in ASL is made by sweeping one palm against the other one time from wrist to fingertips.
If we change the movement to a repeated motion, the word becomes CLEAN.
~I clean my room.

By changing the location of the word CLEAN, we can change the meaning again.
~I am cleaning.
~I clean my whole house.
Either of these can be indicated by moving around the sign CLEAN.

Going back to the base sign of NICE, if we change the palm orientation and movement to palm up brushing from fingertips to wrist, we now have the word NEW. Or clapping palm to palm gives you the word SCHOOL.

Signing the word CLEAN with raised eyebrows, as opposed to a neutral face, changes the sentence to a question.
~Did you clean your room?

Finally, space. Really, all of the above examples include changes in the use of space. In a visual-spatial language, it’s impossible to communicate without using space.

It’s important to pay attention to these parameters as you learn new vocabulary in ASL. It will become more important as you learn more complicated vocabulary and words that are similar to signs you already know.

*A word in all caps is a translation of an ASL sign called a gloss. It’s difficult to accurately convey ASL in written English.

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Fingerspelling: A Frightening Feat

May 25, 2017

Tips from the Terp

Greetings new signers! Whether you plan on becoming an interpreter or are taking ASL because you think it’s cool, I want to help you with some of the trickier aspects of the language.

So I present: Tips from the Terp.

I’ve been a Sign Language interpreter for 13 years, and every time I meet new students of ASL they seem to have the same questions, so I thought I’d try to answer some of these based on my own experience and with input from the Deaf Community and other interpreters.

With that in mind, here is my inaugural post:

If the thought of fingerspelling makes you cringe and reading fingerspelling makes you break into a cold sweat–

Fear not! I have some tips that may help you learn how to become better at fingerspelling and reading fingerspelling.

Reading Fingerspelling:

One of the most important things to remember about fingerspelling is that you should be reading it just like you do words on a page. When we read, we see each word as a whole unit rather than individual letters. But it never fails that when I meet a new sign language student, they almost always try to read the individual letters when I fingerspell to them. It’s important to start training your brain early to see the shape and movement of an entire fingerspelled word rather than each individual letter.

One way to do this is to silently sound out the word as it is spelled to you. Instead of thinking C A T, think CAT, just like you would if you saw the word on a page.

Don’t panic if you miss a letter! Looking at the whole word will help you to still recognize the word if you take a moment; whereas if you’re saying individual letters, you’re likely to forget what the beginning of the word was by the time they reach the end.

Context is also important. Stop and think if the word you thought you saw fits the context. You can always ask the person to repeat the fingerspelling if you still can’t figure it out.

One other thing: don’t stare at the person’s hand. You want to be looking at their face (because they may be giving you hints by facial expression or mouthing), plus it’s just polite. Experienced signers know to fingerspell in a comfortable position that still allows you to see their hand while you look at their face.

Producing Fingerspelling:

My best advice for fingerspelling is almost the same as for reading fingerspelling. Don’t say the individual letters as you produce them, say the word that you’re spelling. When I introduce myself to you, I will never spell and say R O S E; I’ll spell it and say ‘Rose.’ It takes practice. You might be saying the word very slowly, but if you practice regularly, your speed will improve.

One of my favorite ways to practice is fingerspelling restaurant and street names as I drive or when I’m a passenger. License plates are also good for practice because they have unusual combinations of letters and numbers. I’ll even stop and spell interesting words I come across when I’m reading.

The only way to improve your speed and fluency is to practice regularly and don’t be afraid of it! Fingerspelling is fun!

I hope you find these tips helpful. Look for more in the future. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions! If I don’t know an answer, I will do my best to find one.

See the video for an example of spelling a word while saying each letter, and then the same word with saying the word. It’s a silly example of a really long word, but it illustrates the point that it’s actually easier to say the word rather than the letters as you spell. I also misspelled in one spot on the first attempt. (Bonus points if you’re the first to post what the word is, spelled correctly!)

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Can you tell apart apart and a part?

May 22, 2017

Pondering Grammar

Greetings Readers!

It has been far too long since I last posted. I’ve finally been driven to write this by several comments I’ve seen on Facebook, all containing the same error.

When you want to be a part of something, you certainly don’t want to be apart; but this is a mistake I’ve seen people making frequently.

They type: ‘I want to be apart of that group,’ when they mean that they want to be included. They’ve essentially said exactly the opposite. ‘Apart’ is used to say that you are ‘pulling something apart,’ or ‘keeping things apart.’

It’s just a space, people! Doesn’t take up much space and important for clarity.

On a new subject, I’d like to start highlighting wondrous words, words that aren’t used much anymore or may have obscure meanings but are fun to say or read.

Today’s wondrous word: forewent

I forewent my turn at the game.

It’s the past tense of forego, which means to forfeit or not do something.

So, forego the misuse of apart and a part and make your grammar nerd friends happy!

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The Art of Capitalization

March 14, 2017

Pondering Grammar

I enjoy reading. Not just enjoy – LOVE! It’s probably my favorite pastime. I regularly read multiple books at once, usually on my Kindle app. Unfortunately, there is an epidemic of poor grammar, spelling and punctuation in many of the self-published books available. If you want to publish a book – great! Get your work edited (preferably by someone who knows what they’re doing) before publishing, though!

In kindergarten, most students start the year writing their names, and most other words, with all capital letters or a mix of capital and lowercase. As the year progresses, they learn that their names should be capitalized, but only the first letter. They learn that ‘I’ is always capitalized; and they learn to not have random capitals in the middle of their words and sentences.

In self-published books, I see many poorly worded sentences and misused words, but one book I read took me back to kindergarten, where the author should have learned to correctly use capitals. She had problems with word usage too, but I just want to address the capitalization right now. It bothered me enough that I actually wrote a review on Amazon. And promptly got yelled at by another reviewer for only giving 3 stars because of grammar. That wasn’t the only reason I gave it 3 stars, but poor grammar detracts from my enjoyment of a book. It brings me to a screeching halt so I can try to figure out what the heck the author is trying to say.

The capitalization errors were actually minor compared to some of the other mistakes, but it was interesting because I’d never seen anyone make this particular error so dramatically. You’re probably saying, ‘Get to the point, already!’

Here it is: The words mom, dad, mother and father are ONLY capitalized when used as proper nouns, as in the place of a name or in direct address, and NOT when used as common nouns.

For example:
     Yes – I told Mom that she should buy the dress.
     No – I told my Mom that she should buy the dress.

     Yes – I want Dad to come with me.
     No – I want my Dad to come with me.

This author capitalized mother and father EVERY TIME she used them. and that was a lot of times. The book was about a family so ‘my Mother’ and ‘my Father’ were on nearly every page! Halfway through the book I was ready to scream, but I did like the story enough to finish the book and even read the next couple in the series. The author did fix some of her mistakes in the following books.

It’s a fairly straightforward rule. If you can replace mom, dad, mother or father with a name, capitalize it. I return to my previous example. If I replace mom with Kate (my mom’s name), does it make sense?

     I told Kate that she should buy the dress.
     I told my Kate that she should buy the dress.

The first one makes sense but the second doesn’t.

That is all.

pLease capItaliZe Your senTenCes CorrEctlY!

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Definitely Defiant

June 14, 2014

Pondering Grammar

I am definitely irritated by the frequent replacement of definitely with defiantly. As far as I can tell, this is simply a matter of people not paying attention when they’re typing. I would hope that people know the difference, though that may be asking too much. It’s one of those errors that is easy to make if you don’t pay attention to what you’re writing or typing.

Another common error in both speaking and writing is the use of the incorrect past participle form of certain verbs, those used with have. There are many verbs that have unusual forms for the past participle. For example: have sung, have swung, have come, have begun, have done, have drunk, have eaten, have gone, have swum, and many more.*

These are verbs that just have to be memorized because there is not necessarily a logical or consistent means of figuring out what the past and past participles should be. Many people, however, just use the regular past form with have, rather than the correct past participle. They say: I have sang a song; I have swang a bat; I have came to school; I have began a book; I have did this; I have drank pop; I have ate pizza; I have went to the store; I have swam in the pool.

Actually with swang and swung, more commonly it’s actually the past pariciple used in place of the past tense: I swung the bat.

These are further confused by those that don’t follow the pattern. It is drink, drank, drunk; but not think, thank, thunk. Sing, sang, sung; but not bring, brang, brung. That one IS frequently used by people trying to genralize the rule, but failing miserably.

English is a difficult language and it is distressing that more and more Americans don’t even know how to speak or write it correctly. Or they don’t care, which is almost as bad.

*http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html

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Judge, or Judge Not

March 28, 2014

Unashamed Faith

I have noticed quite a lot of talk recently about the Bible and what it says. What I’ve seen primarily is passages being taken out of context to support an assertion. One of the most over- and mis-used is

Matthew 7.1: ‘Do not judge so that you will not be judged.’*

Usually, this is quoted from the King James Version: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ Sounds a little more authoritative there, doesn’t it? When people quote this verse, most are doing so in response to someone they feel is being judgmental. Most who use this verse feel that no one should judge what anyone else is doing, no matter what it is. There are a couple of problems with this way of thinking. First, there is simply the fact that using this scripture is a judgment itself, and is, therefore, self-defeating. Second, the entire passage is not taken into account:

‘Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.‘*

Matthew 7.1-5 (Emphasis mine)

The first problem I mentioned above was that by quoting the one verse, there is already judgment being passed. Telling someone else they are being judgmental is judgmental and self-defeating.

The other problem is that the verse does not actually say what people want it to say when it is quoted in this manner. I’m reminded of one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride. ‘You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’ People often quote from the Bible to prove a point, but if the verse being quoted is taken out of context, nothing is proven but an ignorance of God’s Word.

This passage doesn’t say to not judge anyone. First, it talks about judging ‘brothers,’ which in Bible terminology means other believers. Second, it says that we will be judged in the same way we judge others. This is a caution to not judge unfairly. Third, there is a fairly harsh declaration at the end to deal with your own sins before anyone else’s. I would think this especially applies to judging another’s sin when you are participating in the same sin. This reminds me of children who are doing something wrong, but then tell on another child who is doing the same thing.

This is not a perfect explanation of the passage, but I hope it makes the point that we can’t just pull a single verse out of the Bible and make it say what we want it to say.

*NASB

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It’s the principal/principle

February 5, 2014

Pondering Grammar

I was reading a book today. I know, shocker! I won’t write the name of the book, but it is a fairly well know children’s series. I found a grammatical error. Horrors! This makes me sad. I expect to find errors in self-published e-books; but not in an edited, printed, professionally-published book! The author used the word principal when he meant principle.

A principal is the person who runs a school.
A principle is a tenet or rule that one follows.

The principal is your pal (a person), as someone once taught me.

I have frequently seen these words mixed up by people writing comments on the internet. It’s just another one of those stupid homonyms that people don’t know how to use, or don’t pay attention to. Why do we have so many of those (homonyms, not people)?

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Leave/Let it be

February 5, 2014

Pondering Grammar

I know it’s been a while since I posted. I’m going to try to write more often from now on.

This afternoon, I was pondering the words leave and let. They are frequently used interchangeably, as in my title.

Leave it be.
Let it be.

Leave it alone.
Let it alone.

However, the interchangeability breaks down quickly.

Let it go.
Leave it go.

I have heard many people use the latter, unfortunately. I don’t know the origins of the usages of these phrases. It makes me wonder if leave it be used to be non-standard and has been integrated and accepted over time. I hope leave it go doesn’t do that. It sounds so wrong! Actually, the more I say leave it be, the more wrong it sounds, too!

This one just confuses me. Is it regional? I don’t know what to do with it. All I can say is, as usual: think before you speak!

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Tolerance

January 29, 2014

Unashamed Faith

Tolerance

I went to look up the word ‘tolerance’ on dictionary.com and was disturbed by what I found in the definition. Dictionary.com defines tolerance as:

1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry.

2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own.

3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one’s own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.

4.the act or capacity of enduring; endurance:

Merriam-Webster.com defines it as:

1: capacity to endure pain or hardship

2: a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own

b : the act of allowing something

3: the allowable deviation from a standard; especially: the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified dimension in machining a piece

Here’s the problem I have with these definitions: tolerance would seem to imply the endurance of something you don’t particularly like. These definitions, except for number one on Merriam-Webster, suggest that one should happily tolerate everything. The definition itself is intolerant. It doesn’t allow one to be displeased with those things which one must tolerate. A person should be allowed to tolerate those beliefs and practices with which one disagrees without liking it. Fair and objective is one thing, but permissive is entirely something else.

Fair: free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice*

Objective: not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased*

Permissive:habitually or characteristically accepting or tolerant of something, as social behavior or linguistic usage, that others might disapprove or forbid, or granting or denoting permission*

It is right to be fair and objective, and even respectful, of others’ beliefs and actions, but permissive implies approval of those beliefs or actions. That should not be something implied by the word tolerance.

I am perfectly capable of tolerating someone’s beliefs without accepting or approving of them. I am willing to discuss beliefs differing from my own, as well as my own beliefs. I would only ask the same tolerance from anyone with whom I am having such discussions. Do not automatically assume or assert that I am wrong, simply because my beliefs differ from yours. You are free to disagree, just as I am free to disagree with you. This doesn’t make either of us intolerant, merely disagreeing.

*Dictionary.com

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