My students and I just finished working on an essay about the pros and cons of texting and internet lingo. The next unit of learning for these students is proper punctuation. This led me to thinking, if everyone (or nearly everyone) texts and uses internet lingo, what's the point of teaching proper grammar and punctuation? I mean seriously, if I can tell someone I'll "brb" instead of be right back, why not use the abbreviated text and save myself some time? Who really cares if I put a comma after each item in a series, or that I end my sentences with periods, as long as I get my meaning across, right?
Consider this:
"On June 6, 1944 soldiers stormed the beach at Normandy."
While this sentence may seem correct, it really isn't, because in reality, 150,000 soldiers stormed the beach that day. A simple misplaced comma can upset the entire meaning of what we are trying to say. Another great example of this is this funny little story:
A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why? Why are you behaving in this strange, un-panda-like fashion?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda walks towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
The English language is all about communication and making sure that others understand what we mean. We all need proper grammar and punctuation in our lives to ensure that everyone understands what we really mean when we write.
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