June 30, 2010
Is it possible that correct grammar and word usage has changed over the years? I don’t consider myself old exactly, but I am dumbfounded by this newfangled English that I see in my son’s phonics book. Is it possible that there is a newer “modern grammar” from what I was taught &*&^ years ago?
For example, the word swim. I learned the tenses to be swim, swam, swam. I was told over and over again not to say swum. Under no circumstances was I to write “swum” on a school paper lest I invoke the wrath of Sister Angela in fourth grade. But swum is exactly what my kids are being taught to say under the guise of the pluperfect tense (which I do realize is a valid tense, just not in this case!)
Another travesty is the word swing. I learned swing, swung, swung. They are learning, and it kills me to even write this…I’m cringing even now…SWANG. Yikes. It even looks wrong. Swing, swang, swung? Seriously? Even if it’s right, I won’t be using it and I’m thinking of making a $0.25 fine at my house if I hear it.
Am I the only one that finds this weird? Have the rules changed? Are there any words that just don’t seem right to you?
**Ha ha…just as a footnote: when I spellchecked this entry, the only spelling mistake it found was swang!**