I have a few
grammar Nazi friends, and every time I’m around them, I get really stressed up
about the English I use, so as to avoid any embarrassing corrections. I admit I MAY seem like a very well-spoken person, but if you ask me to write a really
good essay, you’ll be greatly disappointed. So I usually warn my fellow
friends/teachers/group mates to not expect too much from me.
This lack of
grammatical talent boils down to the fact that while growing up, I’ve always been
in a Chinese medium school. This means that I studied my math, history,
geography, science etc all in Chinese. I know it isn’t an excuse to not buck up
in my written English, but back then it really didn’t occur to me as a crucial
problem to score an A in English with my suboptimal level. I had a harder time
coping with my other Chinese subjects which I’m way weaker in, and even
struggling my third language – Malay well.
Now, I
regret my foolishness back then and really do try to correct my grammar and
improve the structuring of my sentences. Thus, I do apologize in advance if my
blog has some errors here and there, but feel free to drop me a message about it,
it’ll be a great help. =)
So when I came
across this video by Stephen Fry, it really cheered me up and helped me feel
less guilty about myself. I personally have no right to judge other people’s
grammar, but something that actually annoyed me is the IM spellings. I find all
the “2molo”, “c u”, “bck” etc harder to read than actual proper spelling/sentences. I confess
my younger innocent self used to type that way. Then I asked myself how hard is
typing a few extra keys going to be?
Nevertheless,
what Stephen said is really true, so what if we aren’t meticulous about the
difference between “few” and “less”, or we didn’t add a apostrophe here and
there? It won’t kill anyone now would it? It wouldn’t really make us any less
intelligent, just….lazy. =)
However, I
disagree about the degree of informality and proper grammar to be used in both
formal and informal occasions. Certainly when you’re writing a cover letter to
your future employer, how informal can you get? I’d say you have to be AS
FORMAL as if you were in the 1800s and writing a letter to the Victorian Queen.
You should be using words such as “in obedience to”, “with submission to your
superior judgment”, practically kissing as much ass as you can would do the
trick!
As for
informal conversations with friends, I’d say a basic knowledge of the more
commonly understood grammar should be sufficient. But an eagerness to find out
which is the accurate grammar to be used is highly recommended.
So back to
my question, are you dissatisfied or unsatisfied? I really didn’t know the
difference, and often asked myself if either one was a word in the first place.
Then I googled (noun turned verb :p) it up. The difference is that “unsatisfied”
is usually more used for non-living nouns, such as ambition, claims etc. As for “dissatisfied”, it is applied to
humans, such as customer, landowners etc. TADA!
Ultimately,
I believe in using proper English as much as possible, and if you aren’t sure,
look it up. If you find a friend using incorrect grammar, let them know
politely. =) You don’t have to be all pointy nose and call them “ignorant
people” in your head, or behind their backs. If I’ve done so in the past, or
made you feel that way, please do forgive me. I WAS the one who’s ignorant.
