Monday, August 12, 2013

Adverbs Have Feelings Too...

Okay, I have serious plans for real posts soon, but I needed to step back and get real with y'all.

It's time for another grammar lesson. 
I'll admit, I'm not the best at it myself. I use commas way too often and sometimes not enough. Overcompensation. When I write, I use a lot of incomplete sentences. I'm terrible at spelling under pressure. (Why I didn't ever enter into a spelling bee even though I had teachers who always wanted me to.) And I did not obtain an English degree. I didn't even do that well in my college English courses either to be honest.

But! I try my HARDEST to be at least aware of grammar.

Let's make it cool again y'all. 
I know society raises us to answer, "How are ya," with, "I'm good." But, that doesn't mean we have to actually say it! If there's a trend to rebel against, let it be the omission of adverbs. I'll be okay with all of you Beliebers and Twilight fanatics if you took a little more caution in your grammar.

I always try to answer, "How are you," with, "I'm doing quite well, thank you!" (Gotta throw in a little etiquette too. It makes people feel special inside dammit!)

Sometimes, I slip up. Like, if I'm too busy to talk and thinking cap is wedged on too tightly for talking to make way, I'll answer with, "I'm good." And as soon as I'll say it, I will mentally kick myself in the face. And I can't just retract it. I can't just say, "Just kidding! I meant I'm doing well!" Then I'll just sound like an idiot.

It really doesn't bother me when others answer with, "Good." Because well, majority rules, and it's extremely difficult to break that habit. Trust me. I've been workin' on it for quite a while now.

But, I have to tell you what does bother me, why it does, and why you should work on bringing adverbs back into our vocabulary.

What About Our Language Bothers Me.
It's the one language we're required to learn. (Two years of a foreign language my ass. Like that helps anyone.)

Going through school, in every English class, (before English it was Reading, or Language Arts) we had the dreaded grammar sections. Where we would spend a few weeks learning all about grammar? Remember? The only thing that we enjoyed about them was the School House Rock videos? My favorite was always Conjunction Junction. Still is. But this isn't time for that!!

Anyway, I remember also having D.O.U. (Daily Oral Usage) every morning throughout elementary school. I ROCKED D.O.U. I was a freakin' beast! But those actual grammar lessons? Those were a pain in my rear.

And every time it came to learn about adverbs, I hated it even more, because I felt as if the teacher never quite knew how to explain them well enough. Which made me dislike them even more. I felt as if they were worthless.

I vaguely remember one classmate asking how often we actually use adverbs, and the teacher responded with something like, 'I don't know, very rarely." (((AHEM! Adverb.)))

So Why Let It Bother Me?
I feel, like I was cheated. Like we all have been cheated!

Of course, this doesn't really provide much explanation..


School House Rock - Adverbs

But all I remember from in class lessons is, "An adverb describes a verb." Basically, that is true. There's more to it, (cue video) but that is exactly what I am consciously aware of daily.

"Am I going to say this sentence correctly?" "Which form of word do I use?" "Would it be easier if I just said it differently?" "Does this even make sense?"

I don't think many people ever think that way, and I believe that is what bothers me.

The internet is slowly demolishing our language. SAVE IT! SAVE YOURSELVES!! SAVE YOUR CHILDREN!!! Think before you speak, before you type, before you send; before it's too late!

It's The Small Things.
I can't possibly provide an entire lesson. Remember, I'm no expert. I'll admit. I don't know it all. That's impossible. So let's start rather small.

First off, I looked up the word small. It's an adjective. An adjective describes a noun. Normally, one would say, "Let's start small." It sounds correct, right? Technically, no.

How are we starting? We're starting rather small. The word starting is an action verb, and we're trying to describe our action. (Does this make sense?)

Great. Let us move on.

We could add an -ly at the end of small, and say that we'll be starting smally, but that just does not flow correctly off of the tongue. sounds gross. *Side Note: I looked it up. Smally is a word. But I keep getting the red, squiggle-line underneath it. I hate that line.

The word 'rather' is actually an adverb! And I just received confirmation by the video and Google. (Because Google knows all.)

So, rather is basically used as a crutch for small to lean on, as it tries to describe our action. (Does that make sense?)

Our Daily Oral Usage.
A Facebook post I saw today said, "Interview went good..." and, "...I think I did good."

No. *Shakes head vigorously* No.

Here are the questions I think of when it comes to things such as this:

"How did it go? It went well! How did I do? I did well!" 

How does he dance? He dances crazily. 

How does she drive? She drives quickly. 

The difference:
It went good. I did good.

He dances crazy.

She drives quick.

You kind of sound like a caveman. Do you hear it? Say it out loud? Say it with a deep voice.

(What kind of voice? A deep voice.)
((See the difference in question type too?!?!?!))
(((This is an adjective question.)))

Do We Understand A Little Better?
This post went way longer than I intended it to. And I omitted a lot of talking points. Happens every time. I'll let you go for now.

Go to bed. Go to sleep.

You're keeping me up internets!

What are you doing?!

I need sleep toooooo! *Makes pouty face*

Okay. I'm done. 

Thank you for reading!

I hope you enjoyed and/or benefited from today's post in a way!

<3 Tawny


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