It Ain’t Always “I” – Four Quick Steps to Speaking Correctly
Copyright c 2013 by James C. Bowers
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by any information storage without written permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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ISBN: 9781483511900
I would like to thank my wife, Carole R. Bowers, for coming up with the idea for a book such as this. Unfortunately, as a sanguine, before she completes one idea, she has three more. I have been fairly successful in my teaching, consulting and business careers by picking up on her ideas and carrying them on to conclusion. Publicly acknowledging her as one reason for my success is long overdue. (Besides, when she reads this acknowledgement, she’ll be more willing to continue typing this manuscript for me.)
Also, I thank my Mom who stimulated a boy with an engineering bent, to also appreciate English grammar.
My father had the most influence over my early years; however, my mother’s fascination with grammar led me to write this book. Mom did not discipline us kids because of poor grammar; rather she made it fun, interesting and exciting. Many times she would write out a complex sentence and challenge us to “diagram it.” Often after hearing a speech or commentator on radio or TV, she would ask us how many grammatical errors we had detected. Knowing she would ask that question at the end of the program accomplished two goals: it trained our minds to listen for correct grammar and it also had us listening intently to the speaker. Years later, I wondered if the latter purpose were not her primary intent. It worked - all seven of us kids learned to always listen carefully.
Having had that start in life and having spent over 25 years as a university professor, I have developed some perspective and made some observations. I have also put myself on the firing line of scrutiny by co-authoring three engineering books, publishing dozens of articles and giving hundreds of speeches. For all of these reasons, I believe I have earned the right to make some observations.
It seems to me that during the first half of the 20th Century there were those (the uneducated, in general, but not always) who spoke consistently with bad grammar. Those more educated (and back then schools were very demanding concerning grammar) spoke for the most part using correct English. It seems that a reaction to this “split” began to occur in the l960’s. Grammar was less and less stressed in the classroom, but at the same time most people still wanted to appear correct and chic. In my opinion, this led to the “always I” and other phenomenon during the latter half of the twentieth century. Apparently people growing up in the 50’s heard their educated parents and classmates ridiculing the poor grammar of people some called they might call “rednecks.” Dizzy Dean was made quite controversial during that era as a baseball announcer because of his poor grammar and many others with similar backgrounds mirrored his language. School kids hearing “those-type-people” saying things like, “me and her went to town” wanted to make sure that they didn’t sound like that. Many realized the obvious errors, but with the reduced emphasis on grammar in the schools, they weren’t always sure what was correct.