A member of a listserv for fl teachers told on her colleague who was a big-time grammar person. She went to Mexico City on vacation and came back raving about the Mexican educational system. Why? She replied that all the hotel maids used the subjunctive.
We have a teacher who was a grammar martinet. One time I heard him on the phone giving instructions to one of his workers (he ran a roofing business on the side and that’s how our dept lost its phone – he used it for his business. Maybe Trump should take a lesson from that on mixing personal stuff with business). He said something like esperamos or the like and “… que proven el van” where provean is expected. If a student did that he’d crucify them (yes, them; them as a neutral pronoun singular is recognized – yea!).
But these are people who think of language as a matter of conscious cognitive effort like calculus. I wish I did not have to rely so much on my own ratiocination to make sure I’m saying things right, but I am fast at it. My grandson, whose Spanish is acquired noticed one day when we were having a long conversation with some people that I paused here and there. His Spanish, while not as grammatically accurate as mine, is more fluent.
Pat’s Polemics
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