A World of Confusion

9/18/2012 tringel 0 Comments

The Confusion Begins

Grammar is not one of those things that comes naturally to me. So, of course, reading a book about grammar isn't on the top of my list. However, we are required to read Sin and Syntax for class. Again, while this wouldn't be my first topic when choosing a book, I am very glad to be reading it. I know it will teach me a lot, and that knowledge will hopefully follow into my writing.

Like I stated, I am not great with grammar. Most of what I have read so far has been read through a few times and slowly so that I can truly understand how everything works. It is helpful for me to not just read and hear things, but to interact and put examples to learning so that I can more easily remember the knowledge and make sure I am actually understanding it correctly. With this said I have come across a few examples for some of the information in the book so far.

Nouns

Originally, I thought of Kleenex. Many people use the brand Kleenex interchangeably as a noun replacing tissue, which is the actual noun. "Can I have a Kleenex?" rather then "Can I have a tissue?" Either way you will be getting a tissue, whether it is Kleenex brand is another question. But rarely will someone respond to the first question with a reply of  "no I do not have Kleenex I only have (insert brand name) tissues." Other examples that came to mind were Q-tip, Xerox, Bandaid, and IPod. While I have heard of these brandnomer's before, they have never really been something that had affected my daily life, so I still did not feel fully emerged with the topic.

However, at work today, I encountered something of the sort. Part of my job is to photograph, edit, and describe merchandise for the company website. When describing an article of clothing today I used the term Velcro to describe the way the clothing closure fastens. I was told we are not to use "Velcro" unless it specifically states that it is Velcro; rather, we must use the term hook-and-loop. Why is this? Because Velcro is trademarked by the company that created it. But as our book tells us on page 15, this brand name works so well that it has become a noun. It is what most use to describe that type of material without a second thought.

Can you see any differences besides the color? Do you know which is the Velcro brand? (answer at bottom of post)

Pronouns

Now, if I thought nouns were confusing, pronouns are a whole new ballpark. One of the biggest topics that stood out to me in this chapter was third person point of view (beginning on page 35) verse second person point of view verse first person point of view. While this is something that I have been learning since elementary school, I will admit there are times it will trip me up. As I was going through this section, and the author was discussing when the different points of view are used I was reminded of a novel i read and thoroughly enjoyed a while ago entitled Those Who Save Us (shown on the right). I remember when I was reading it how I enjoyed it but how it was written so differently then most novels I had and have since read. And it was different because of the point of view. As stated in the text, most novel use an omniscient third person voice, becoming the character. Jenna Blum however, uses third person to write the story as if she is describing the world of the characters, rather then becoming one. While this was an odd approach, i think it worked in this circumstance and was a very enjoyable story. It gave the audience a different perspective on a topic that has been covered many times before.


(Answer: The yellow (left picture) is the Velcro brand, the black is the generic hook-and-loop (right side).