7. A Teacher Explains the Difficulties of Writing it Right

It's quite embarrassing for teachers to have to admit that they are not totally sure of their grammar - and they certainly have plenty to write.

Isn’t Business interesting? You can channel huge amounts of effort into networking, building contacts, ‘selling’... but often, the most interesting lead comes when you least expect it. Like at a family get-together – when all you’re thinking about is why Auntie Eileen appears to have placed her reading glasses in her bowl of trifle (for the second time today!)
I had made some terrific contacts over the last few weeks – Phil, his colleagues, some of his clients – and even Charlie, the young man I’d helped out at the exhibition last week. So I was relieved to be enjoying a business-free day at a 50th Anniversary Party: a good mix of family, friends and plus-ones.
I’d been catching up with my cousin when she spotted a face across the room.
“Ah – there’s someone I’d love you to meet. Paul is my daughter’s fiancé – he’s just qualified as a teacher at the local sixth-form college. Come over and meet him.”
We wove our way across the room, and I found myself shaking hands with a pleasant young man who looked every inch the new teacher.
“Pleased to meet you, Jane. Tell me, what is it that you do?”
I roughly outlined my background , but I didn’t go into much detail – after all, this was a family gathering, and I wasn’t going to talk ‘business’ to a family member, however distantly-related he may be!
“Grammar, golly... now there’s a skill my colleagues could definitely use!”
“What do you mean, Paul?”
“Just that you wouldn’t believe the standard of English among the college staff. It’s quite embarrassing at times. Most of us are quite young, so we haven’t exactly had English Language drummed into us. Children of the digital age, and all that! Writing workbooks or exams, marking essays... even writing OFSTED reports... simply writing the content is pretty time-consuming, but ensuring that they’re spelled and punctuated correctly is another matter entirely. Most of the staff don’t bother – and we’ve been pulled up about it quite a few times by the head, as well as by the school inspectors. It just adds to our workload!”
It was a familiar story: another instance of someone compromising their free time in the name of good grammar. A real shame – when the solution is so simple!
“What if there was a simple way of checking your writing for accuracy? Asking questions, looking up confusing words or phrases... online, perhaps?”
“If only!” sighed Paul. There’s Dictionary.com, there’s Thesaurus.com, and I’m sure there are plenty of random websites packed with grammatical hints and tips. It takes time to find them all, though!”
“What if all of that information could be consolidated into one single place?”
“Now that would be worthwhile. It’d save us so much time – and embarrassment! Why, do you know of something?”
I smiled happily. “You know, I think I do. Where did you say your college was?”

Comments