Prepare to be disappointed

2005-02-21T21:08:50Z 2005-02-21T21:08:50Z Prepare to be disappointed 2005-02-21T21:08:50Z

<a href="http://coldspringshops.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_coldspringshops_archive.html#110901932579738686" title="Cold Spring Shops">Stephen Karlson</a> writes: <blockquote> I expect juniors and seniors to have a basic understanding of the meanings and spellings of simple words. </blockquote> An expectation, mind you, that is largely in vain. In my public opinion class last week, when talking about affect (in the public opinion context, a synonym for emotion), I ended up explaining the difference between the words affect and effect in common usage. I’m pretty sure this was the first time any of my students were made aware that these two words, in fact, are not the same. Of course, it doesn’t help by the time students have reached me they generally have had 13–16 years of experience with teachers and professors in various fields whose reaction to shoddy grammar and usage can be summed up as “eh, it’s not my job to fix it,” rather than the proper response of whacking them over the head repeatedly with a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/020530902X/memphiswatch">Strunk and White</a>. http://blog.lordsutch.com/archives/2511 http://blog.lordsutch.com/atom.cgi/entryid=2511