Is anyone still teaching grammar?

It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard when I hear or read improper grammar.

Using “John and I” when it should have been “John and me” drives me crazy. For example, while “John and I went to the movies” is correct, “The movie had mixed reviews from John and I” is incorrect. Would you say “The movie had mixed reviews from I”? Of course not. And I certainly hope you wouldn’t think “John and me went to the movies” is correct either.

Another frequent error is using a contraction when you needed a possessive word. In a recent ad for staff in this very paper, “it’s” was used when “its” was needed. Don’t know if the error occurred with the creator of the ad or with the copywriter at the paper — doesn’t matter — it was still incorrect.

This kind of error is just another example of why South Carolina schools are often rated so low, in my opinion. It may not be a fair assumption, but if we are producing high school graduates who cannot use the English language properly, then something is wrong with the system. I’m sure there are lots of outstanding English teachers out there — have they just given up correcting students, demanding proper language, or what?

This story was originally published August 10, 2017 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Is anyone still teaching grammar?."