When most people see something misspelled on a billboard, in a menu, on a parking sign, or on a mailbox they either don’t even notice it or they will just get a little giggle and walk on by.
But that’s not the case for George T. Arnold, Ph.D, a self confessed “grammaraholic”. Who feels the need to correct any and all of these mistakes he sees.
Arnold is a copy editor and the author of the Media Writers Handbook, a textbook for media students or any student trying to follow the rules of AP style journalism. It is a text filled with common grammar mistakes and the proper way to fix them.
Arnold wrote this text not because he felt he needed to write a grammar book, but because there was no grammar book that covered this material.
Arnold taught at Marshall University for a little over 35 years and during his tenure there he taught a variety of classes. One of which was JMC 100, which was an introduction to new journalism students on how to properly write the way a journalist should. Arnold found himself having to give almost inch thick handouts to students on a regular basis explaining all of the rules they needed to be following. So he thought what better way to fix that problem then to just compose a book with everything they needed to know, so that exactly what he did with Media Writers Handbook.
Arnold came back to visit Marshall University on Tuesday. Where he spoke about some of the most common mistakes students make and also some of his personal experiences from being a “grammaraholic”.
Arnold started by telling a story about a lady at the West Virginia state fair. “You know those rocks people can buy to put outside their houses? You know the ones that have the last name on them? Well there was a lady with a tent selling them, and as I looked over I noticed something, most of them were spelled wrong! They were spelled the Jone’s or the Smiths’s !”.
Of course, Arnold caught onto her grammar mistake. When talking about the family’s last name and the place where they live it shouldn’t state the families name then “..’s”, because that would make it singular possessive tense. There should simply just be an “s” added to a last name, unless the last name ends in a “s”, then you add an “es”. Well after explaining this to the lady she then kindly explained to Arnold … “That you can leave me tent.”.
After Arnold left the fair that evening he went home to then write “confessions of a grammaraholic”, where he explained mistakes in restaurant menus, billboards and parking lot violations.
Arnold said something about regional dialects as well, and how people when public speaking try to throw out big words to sound intelligent, instead of just properly using basic everyday english, the use of clichés and common expressions, slang and his newest chapter in his book.
Arnold said that all students should look to his book to see what it correct and what isn’t when it comes to AP rules, common mistakes and just any grammar in general. He said all students to should be as successful as they can, and to be able to do that, they need to know everything they can about proper grammar, and he would almost guarantee that that would make them better then anyone in their job.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Dr.Arnold
Have you ever walked by something or read something in public or at a place of business that was either miss spelled or didn’t follow grammar rules?
Or do you even think about it? Instead you just take it at face value and move on.
Well that’s not the case for Dr. George T. Arnold who is a self confessed “grammaraholic”.
Dr. Arnold is the author of the Media Writers Handbook, a textbook for media students or any student trying to follow the rules of AP style journalism. It is a text filled cover to cover with common grammar mistakes and the proper way to fix them.
Dr. Arnold wrote this text not because he felt he needed to write a grammar book, but more because the lack of this grammar book. Dr. Arnold taught at Marshall University for a little over 35 years and during his tenure there he taught a variety of classes. One of which was JMC 100, which was an introduction to new journalism students on how to properly write the way a journalist should. Dr. Arnold found himself having to give almost inch thick handouts to students on a regular basis explaining all of the rules they needed to be following. So he thought what better way to fix that problem then to just compose a book with everything they needed to know, so that exactly what he did with Media Writers Handbook.
Dr. Arnold came back to visit Marshall on Tuesday. Where he spoke about some of the most common mistakes students make and also some of he personal experiences of being a “grammaraholic”.
Dr. Arnold started by telling a story about a lady at the West Virginia state fair. “You know those rocks people can buy to put outside their homes? You know the ones that have the families’ last name on them? Well there was a lady with a tent selling them, and as I looked over I noticed something, most of them were spelled wrong! They were spelled the Jone’s or the Dodd’s !”. Of course, Dr. Arnold caught onto her grammar mistake. When talking about the family’s last name and the place where they live it shouldn’t state the families name then add “…’s”, because that would make it singular possessive tense. There should simply just be an “s” added to a last name, unless the last name ends in “s”, then you add an “es”. Well after explaining this to the lady she kindly explained to Dr. Arnold “That you can leave me tent.”.
After Dr. Arnold left the fair that evening he went home to then write “confessions of a grammaraholic”, where he went onto explain mistakes in restaurant menus, billboards and parking lot violations.
Dr. Arnold then moved on to talk about regional dialects, how people when public speaking try to throw out big words to sound intelligent, instead of just properly using basic english, the use of clichés and common expressions, slang and his newest chapter in his book.
The students listened with interest through his explanation of being a “grammarholic” and hearing about common mistakes (most students having a few “awha” moments at least once).
Dr. Arnold said that all students should look to his book to see what it correct and what isn’t when it comes to AP rules, common mistakes and just any grammar in general. He wants all students to be as successful as they can, and to be able to do that, they need to know everything they can about proper grammar, and he would almost guarantee that that would make them better then anyone in their job.
Or do you even think about it? Instead you just take it at face value and move on.
Well that’s not the case for Dr. George T. Arnold who is a self confessed “grammaraholic”.
Dr. Arnold is the author of the Media Writers Handbook, a textbook for media students or any student trying to follow the rules of AP style journalism. It is a text filled cover to cover with common grammar mistakes and the proper way to fix them.
Dr. Arnold wrote this text not because he felt he needed to write a grammar book, but more because the lack of this grammar book. Dr. Arnold taught at Marshall University for a little over 35 years and during his tenure there he taught a variety of classes. One of which was JMC 100, which was an introduction to new journalism students on how to properly write the way a journalist should. Dr. Arnold found himself having to give almost inch thick handouts to students on a regular basis explaining all of the rules they needed to be following. So he thought what better way to fix that problem then to just compose a book with everything they needed to know, so that exactly what he did with Media Writers Handbook.
Dr. Arnold came back to visit Marshall on Tuesday. Where he spoke about some of the most common mistakes students make and also some of he personal experiences of being a “grammaraholic”.
Dr. Arnold started by telling a story about a lady at the West Virginia state fair. “You know those rocks people can buy to put outside their homes? You know the ones that have the families’ last name on them? Well there was a lady with a tent selling them, and as I looked over I noticed something, most of them were spelled wrong! They were spelled the Jone’s or the Dodd’s !”. Of course, Dr. Arnold caught onto her grammar mistake. When talking about the family’s last name and the place where they live it shouldn’t state the families name then add “…’s”, because that would make it singular possessive tense. There should simply just be an “s” added to a last name, unless the last name ends in “s”, then you add an “es”. Well after explaining this to the lady she kindly explained to Dr. Arnold “That you can leave me tent.”.
After Dr. Arnold left the fair that evening he went home to then write “confessions of a grammaraholic”, where he went onto explain mistakes in restaurant menus, billboards and parking lot violations.
Dr. Arnold then moved on to talk about regional dialects, how people when public speaking try to throw out big words to sound intelligent, instead of just properly using basic english, the use of clichés and common expressions, slang and his newest chapter in his book.
The students listened with interest through his explanation of being a “grammarholic” and hearing about common mistakes (most students having a few “awha” moments at least once).
Dr. Arnold said that all students should look to his book to see what it correct and what isn’t when it comes to AP rules, common mistakes and just any grammar in general. He wants all students to be as successful as they can, and to be able to do that, they need to know everything they can about proper grammar, and he would almost guarantee that that would make them better then anyone in their job.
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