It is not so much National Grammar Day as American Grammar Day.  But are the 3 words synonymous with each other – American – Grammar – Day and how much influence has American (and other countries) spellings and grammar had on the English language?

So as I was saying.  So, as I was like saying like when my pen fell off of the table like but then at the end of the day me and my friends have had issues about this like a lot.

English is excessively diverse and over the centuries has included words and sayings from other cultures.  No wonder many teachers have problems teaching English and in general seem to have forsaken prescriptive grammar and rely on standard language rather than on what is right or wrong.  Me and my…. Is one of my real bugbears; it is far more polite to put the other person first but then how selfish is it to put yourself first.  Is this selfishness or because the person does not know when to use ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘my’?  Generally, ‘me’ has been used colloquially whereas standard grammar should use ‘I’.  “Me and my husband” or should it be ‘My husband and I’. Forbid that I would claim any real expertise in the English language – I only managed a GCE O’Level in it at the 2^nd attempt but there are certain rules which crop up time and again and can be learnt.

Punctuation appears to have virtually disappeared with the onset of texts and emails.  Long sentences are shortened with abbreviated words, and numbers regularly printed instead of words eg g8 instead of gate and no punctuation noted to delineate the sentences.  In many ways this is taking us back into hieroglyphics rather than using the full written word.

Could’nt – should’nt – and would’nt are just a few issues around apostrophes that appear in written English.  Many years ago, I was approached by the HR Manager of an international company to help as a few staff had been receiving poison pen letters.  They sent me the envelopes where they had been retained, and the letters.  But they also sent me samples of writing from the staff member they believed was the culprit.  The culprit had managed to disguise his writing in some ways, but the punctuation stood out as being written in the same style.  His whole tone in the poison pen letters was censorious – you should’nt do this or that, speaking with a moral code. The original writing also contained the same punctuation and comment.  So and so named person would’nt do this etc.  This system of punctuation was obviously a learnt method but is grammatically incorrect.

As a matter of course I also produced a profile of the person based on the poison pen writings and the HR manager said that they knew instantly who the culprit was just based on the profile without the document examination report.  Obviously, this person had issues which the company I understand addressed in a sympathetic manner.

Many of us will have seen something like this and been amazed at how easy it is to read once the flow starts but aware that only the first and the last letter of any word is necessary to read, once reading maturation is reached.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Therefore, how one spells is not necessarily an issue, but grammar and punctuation is as it helps to understand emphasis and meaning.  A graphologist will look deeper at how the letters are formed and the rhythm of the writing in spacing, movement and form among other handwriting traits.  From this a picture emerges of the person, their behavioural traits, strengths, weaknesses, aptitudes, and skills among other character traits.

For those that are still unsure – the apostrophe goes where there is a letter missing – shouldn’t (should not), wouldn’t, couldn’t.  But then can we, and should we bring back prescriptive English or welcome the input from many other countries to diversify and expand our culture and put up with the little nuances that emerge?

For further information contact Christina Strang, Graphologist and Profiler.  Tel: 07786-268117

Ghost Tree offers graphology training and document examining work  www.ghost-tree.com

Christina is internationally known for her work with corporates, and SME’s helping with staff retention, recruitment profiling, mergers, and succession planning.  She was a speaker and award winner at an international conference in 2019 and keynote speaker at a conference in China in 2015 having given talks at a number of other conferences and events in the UK.  She is one of only a handful of people in the world to have carried out full ethically approved medical research using graphology as a diagnostic tool.  Her work as a graphologist has been recognised locally and internationally on TV, radio and in the media world. www.ghost-tree.com