The other night I was out at a Tiki bar for a friend's birthday. Everyone was having either a drink in a bowl or drinks that were lit on fire before partaking, all of which are basically rum punches. Needless to say, being a 5th grade teacher is the last thing on my mind, until....
I overheard a friend talking and she said, "Well, me and Shar went to [such and such a place]...". Suddenly I found my mind racing with grammar rules. Dammit! I can't escape it. If YOU are the subject, for instance, "me and Shar" went somewhere, then it HAS to be said, "Shar and I", because you are the subject of the sentence. Now, if you had said, "The bartender served me and Shar a drink," then YOU are part of the predicate and therefore "me and Shar", or better, "Shar and me" (always naming yourself last) would be grammatically correct.
Then suddenly I caught myself, standing there in the bar, surrounded by flaming Tiki drinks and Hawaiian shirts. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm correcting grammar at a birthday party. My only consolation was that this was all happening in my head...until now.
Next morning I'm driving to school and I'm still a bit grammatically feverish. I pass a CalTrans road sign that reads, "Roadwork Ahead...(next screen) Drive Careful". OK...so..."careful" is an adverb here because it tells HOW we should drive, so it should read, "Drive Carefully". It appeared, however that the character space was limited on this sign and they had to cut off the "ly" and were forced into this grammatical error ( I hope). Regardless, I passed this sign everyday for weeks after that and it bothered me every single time. That's not a good way to start your day. I would pass it at about 7:15am and then be expected to spread rays of sunshine over 30 ten-year-olds at 8:00am. That's just asking too much.
5 comments:
Ha!! I total saw that same sign and it drove me NUTS! (Hey, did you see what I did there? haha)
~ Mia
(fun seeing you today!)
I, too, pass by the same sign every day. Since I get to drive 40 miles each way, I see a few of these signs. Another of these solved the problem. It reads "Drive safely."
We are too alike Sally Carter. thanks for sharing. Your pal John Richard Henkel.
Hey Sally,
I think I'll be a regular reader of your blog!
The adverb issue drives me crazy, also.
The other phrase that drives me crazy is, "Where are you at?"
Danielle
you are too funny, my perfectionist friend. this is what i love most about you. though now i'm a little paranoid about writing correctly.
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