Punctuation

Dormouse

grammar

An easy way to remember this is, it's 'grammatical', not 'grammetical'

peachyprice

Courgette wrote: »

Not us, it's what management say we have to do. I actually got told off once for marking in red but that's another thread

And what is the reasoning behind it? Do they think children will 'feel good' about the corrections in green rather than red?

Is green the new red, will children eventually feel just as bad about the green as they did the red?

And more to the point, how much did they pay someone to come up with the idea. :rotfl:

MichelleM

Thanks Courgette, yes speaking AND listening is counted as one strand- you cant really do one without the other. :cool:

We got told about the marking in green thing- I think it was another of those government things found in the AFL folder... But thats the way the education system works in this country.

If any of you out there recieve CVs, etc written in text speak/not been checked properly I can guarantee that 98% of the time its just laziness and i wonder bother reading it either. Students are consistently taught how to write in different ways- and writing letters, especially informal ones tends to be forced down their throats from year 7!

Dormouse- couldnt bring myself to correct it... :rotfl:Was hoping someone would notice.

Courgette

peachyprice wrote: »

And what is the reasoning behind it? Do they think children will 'feel good' about the corrections in green rather than red?

Is green the new red, will children eventually feel just as bad about the green as they did the red?

And more to the point, how much did they pay someone to come up with the idea. :rotfl:

Welcome to the glorious world of education :rotfl:. Yes, the idea with the green is that they're more supportive, more guiding, that kind of thing. Red has connotations of 'stop' and 'danger'. Red is also a lot easier to see on the page and makes if much easier when you're flicking back through a kid's book to see what errors they are making, but what do I know?!

And regarding the cost? Thousands probably! I'd have thought smaller class sizes might have more impact on a child's motivation than what colour their work's marked in, but again - what do I know!

peachyprice

They obviously didn't stop think that green is also much easier for the children to just ignore than red is. I've been guilty of it myself subconciously, reading through my childrens work books it's much easier to miss a less than positive comment in green than it is in red.

By hey ho, musn't upset the children, goodness only knows what psychological damage red pen did to us.;)

Hermia

peachyprice wrote: »

And what is the reasoning behind it? Do they think children will 'feel good' about the corrections in green rather than red?

These poor little innocent flowers must find it hard when they start work and find that bosses are not so considerate of their delicate feelings!

Fang_3

Filey wrote: »

What level of punctuation is expected from a year 7 child these days? My grand daughter is nearly 12. She showed me a letter she has written as part of her English homework and I was surprised to see she doesn't seem to use much punctation, even capitals at the beginnings of sentences, full stops, and writes im for I'm. And she is working in level 4 or 5. I was surprised as I thought they did all this at Primary school. . She is an avid reader too but it doesn't seem to have rubbed off on her. Maybe I'm just old fashioned

Those in glass houses...

fernliebee

Dormouse wrote: »

grammar

An easy way to remember this is, it's 'grammatical', not 'grammetical'

That is what I love about these threads

It starts off with folk going on about poor spelling, the youth of today's lack of education and slipping standards. Then funnily enough, turns out we are all human and all make mistakes.

Although in this case at least it was started by OP as a genuine concern rather than the usual rant.

margaretclare

Throughout this thread 'grammar' is spelled 'grammer'.

One problem nowadays may be the lack of reading. There are so many other distractions, but my generation read a lot. Some of us read avidly - I could never get enough reading material and I'll read the back of a cereal packet if nothing else is available . I think I absorbed my grammar and English usage from my reading.

Nowadays, is there still a distinction made between 'shall' and 'will'? E.g. 'I will drown, no one shall help me!' rather than 'I shall drown, no one will help me!'

I frequently find 'will' used where I would have used 'shall'.

esmerelda98

Hermia wrote: »

I really worry about how any of these poor kids will ever get a decent job as most good jobs require a reasonable standard of written English. People have always used slang and informal styles of writing, but I think the in ye olde days people also knew how to write properly when needed.

The general standard of written English is already worryingly below par. On these boards I tend to notice when people write well rather than when they do not. People tend to think the problem is that punctuation and grammar are not formally taught nowadays, but I'm not sure that's the whole story. I don't remember being taught punctuation and grammar formally at all, in fact I was grateful I didn't have to learn English like French - all that conjugation. Whilst I know my punctuation and grammar are not perfect, according to general standards they're pretty darn good. My pet hate is 'should of', which I'm sure will be considered standard English in five or ten years. People write it like they say it, but it's such a basic mistake I find it really disconcerting so many people don't even consider that it may be wrong. It's written with such confidence. The other ones I regularly come across are

too/two/to
there/their/they're
bear/bare
write/right (!)

I'm not trying to have a go, I'm just saying there are already serious issues with this, but of course if you dare to say anything you are trying to belittle others for fun. In any case it's all (apparently) rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things.