Why correct grammar is so important

Gerry Seymour

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What do you think the elementary school English teacher may think about this usage?

One math class that I took in school taught me that double negative = positive.

-(-5) = 5
That's the general concept in English syntax, as well. But idiom rarely obeys syntactical rules.
 

Steve

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That's the general concept in English syntax, as well. But idiom rarely obeys syntactical rules.

Yeah, and triple negative equals a positive, and quad negatives net negative. I smile thinking about a Brit's reaction to a sentence like, "You couldn't possibly NOT want to avoid undoing the lack of preparation."
 

Gerry Seymour

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Yeah, and triple negative equals a positive, and quad negatives net negative. I smile thinking about a Brit's reaction to a sentence like, "You couldn't possibly NOT want to avoid undoing the lack of preparation."
I wish actual memos were still a thing. That sentence begs to be in one, circulated among department heads.
 

Dirty Dog

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Yeah, and triple negative equals a positive, and quad negatives net negative. I smile thinking about a Brit's reaction to a sentence like, "You couldn't possibly NOT want to avoid undoing the lack of preparation."
I read that, and now my eye won't stop twitching...
 

Steve

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I was born in a country in Europe, where we learned English at school. However, I always knew that I would make my university years in the US. TBH, the English we learn in school is quite different from here. People sometimes do not respect the grammar, which sometimes is pretty confusing. Plus, I needed a bit of retouch. I used a great app, where for example, you inserted the word erudite, and then several sentences appeared with their meaning. For me, it was very easy to understand the unknown terms.
Erudite isn't a word one hears often. If you do use it, you probably are it.

Another good word is luddite, which refers to people who are anti-technology... precursors to the obsurantists today who are anti-science and peddling misinformation to the ignorant about the vaccines and covid-19. Personally, I think the anti-vaxxers are our modern version of luddites, though the word isn't quite right.

Can anyone think of a more appropriate term than luddite?
 

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