I don’t personally feel that we should compare social errors to grammar and usage errors. While I would be quite offended by someone making racist remarks at a party, I am not in anyway offended when a person says something like, “Hopefully you feel better soon.” I know it’s wrong, but I don’t correct it. Most people don’t know any better, and, even if they do, we all slip every once in a while. I may judge someone more harshly for confusing “there” for “their” or “too” for “to,” but I still like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I certainly wouldn’t call a person illiterate for using “which” in place of “that,” like Zinsser. I think a usage error could be in the eye of the reader, like beauty in the eye of the beholder.
Anyone going into journalism or broadcast has probably already taken, or at least heard about, the dreaded “GUP.” I took Media Writing last semester and the Grammar, Usage and Punctuation test was mandatory to pass the class. Many students in the class stayed up all night studying and still ended up having to retake it a few times over. Some of these students won’t even need these skills, because they’re going to become radio jockeys or video editors. To them, the difference between “who” and “whom” doesn’t seem important. And why should it? If we all wrote academic books, like Zinsser, perhaps we would value the parts of sentences and specific uses of words as much, but for most people, this seems like a waste of time, which could be better used watching sports or studying for a math exam, or anything, really.
Anyone going into journalism or broadcast has probably already taken, or at least heard about, the dreaded “GUP.” I took Media Writing last semester and the Grammar, Usage and Punctuation test was mandatory to pass the class. Many students in the class stayed up all night studying and still ended up having to retake it a few times over. Some of these students won’t even need these skills, because they’re going to become radio jockeys or video editors. To them, the difference between “who” and “whom” doesn’t seem important. And why should it? If we all wrote academic books, like Zinsser, perhaps we would value the parts of sentences and specific uses of words as much, but for most people, this seems like a waste of time, which could be better used watching sports or studying for a math exam, or anything, really.
The GUP sounds quite annoying.
ReplyDelete"Rules" of language are just socially accepted norms - they aren't laws, and they aren't even stable. What is "correct" can and does change. Meaning and usage evolves.
Sometimes, this sort of test is just part of learning the conventions of a particular community. Does the difference between who and whom matter much in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps not.
But it matters insofar as that community (journalists) values the distinction.