A Verbal Spar


Last Wednesday, a colleague and I had a falling out over the proper usage of two words.

I have a habit of asking the colleague to proofread any model compositions I have written for my students. When we are certain that a writing is error-free, I will ask my students to copy it into their exercise books. That morning, I seek her advice as usual. She scanned through the paper and returned it to me after scribbling something on it.


I glanced over the composition and found two words had been underlined as incorrect. They were:


* He wanted to go there for recreational purposes.

* He was running through the rain.


Surprised and confused, I asked her to explain why the words were wrong.


" The first one should be 'He wanted to go there for recreational purpose while the second one should be He was running in the rain."


"But I am sure both words are correctly used!" I remonstrated.


"No, you do not show the correct subject and verb agreement in the first one.And you can't possibly run through rain." She explained emphatically.


" Grammatically speaking, the phrase 'recreational purposes' refers to only a reason despite it being a plural word, " I countered, " On the other hand, rain is not a solid matter. There is no doubt that we can walk or run through it.The preposition 'through' is another option besides 'in'. They are both acceptable."


She gave me a look of incredulity. Perhaps she thought I was trying to show off my better knowledge of grammar. I was not that kind of person. I only wanted to reason with her.

Shaking her head, she asked for proofs to support my argument. Immediately, I got my laptop connected to the Internet using my wireless modem. I googled the phrases 'recreational purposes' and 'running through the rain' and found many of them appear on search engine results pages.She went through some of them and remarked that online English was mostly invalid.

Choked up with anger, I did not have the presence of mind to argue back. She perceived that I had lost the debate and broke into a wide grin.

" Do you read American novels?" She asked.

"Yes,I do, " was my terse reply.

"Whose novels do you like to read?"

"I like the short stories and novels written by Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf and Cormac McCarthy," I said flatly. I had managed to suppress my anger by now.

"If I were you," she said sneeringly. "I will not read their works. American novels are mostly trashy."


"But they are highly-acclaimed writers.Their works are not pulp fictions." I almost lost my cool again. However, it was apparent that she had neither heard of them, nor read their works.It would be pointless losing my temper.


"You should read more college-prescribed novels which are published in England. They can improve your grammar,"She advised me with an air of condescension.


Hearing that, I decided to stop arguing with her. I let her win.

I am not sure if I will seek her advice again.

Comments

rugs said…
she should read shakespeare then. he took multiple liberties with grammar and freely invented new phrases which we use today with obedient fervor.
February 27, 2011 at 4:26 AM
rugs said…
by the way, he would have wanted to go there for A recreational purpose, since his purpose is singular? although he could also have gone just for fun?
February 27, 2011 at 4:40 AM
sintaicharles said…
Thanks for your feedback, rugs.
February 28, 2011 at 3:10 AM
sintaicharles said…
Hehe, sorry, I am at a loss of words to answer the second one.
February 28, 2011 at 3:11 AM
savante said…
What a monstrously judgemental colleague! Consigning the collective work of American authors to the bin?! But you were correct - and both words can be used in the manner you pointed out.
March 30, 2011 at 7:33 PM
Pat said…
Agree with Rugs and Savante: both words were correctly used by you. And actually, her correction of 'purposes' to 'purpose' made it wrong :(

I may be an internet source to her, but I am also an English teacher!

Rugs is right: if she wanted to use 'purpose', she'd have had to add an 'a' to the sentence, as in: a recreational purpose - which is never written; though that is the only way to make her suggestion work grammatically.

She sounds like a boar. Let her be. People like that are so full of themselves, it's not worth the effort trying to work things out with them.

ps

I just saw my blog on your blogroll! Happiness :)
June 16, 2011 at 1:43 AM
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