Posts Tagged ‘grammar’

Posted by Colleen     November 24, 2009

More Proof that Motherhood Fries Your Brain

My little storehouse of knowledge, which wasn’t necessarily that large to begin with, is getting barer by the day it seems.

I forget little things. General knowledge kind of things that anyone who went past the 9th grade should know.

Now, I admit to not being the best speller. And I’m not a very good typist either. I’m also a terrible proof reader.

For me Spell Check is not just a tool. It is a way of life.

My trouble with getting the right letters in the right order often leads to some unfortunate errors in my writing.

However, vocabulary has never been a problem for me, and I did think I knew the difference between Peek and Peak and Hearty and Hardy, until I misused both words on this blog. A fact that I realized at 3:30 one morning while holding vigil with a sleepless baby.

Your have odd thoughts in the wee hours of the morning when delirious from lack of sleep.

Sometimes I forget how to spell every day words like tomorrow. Is it two Ms or two Rs? And have to think hard about whether to use through, threw or thru. I compound words that should be split, and split words that should compounded.

Just a few minutes ago I Googled, “When do you use a colon and and a semi-colon?” I had the rules switched around in my mind.

And the comma.

For, the, love, of, God, the, comma!

I can’t for the life of me remember all the rules about when and where to use commas, so I put one wherever I feel like one should go.

I am sure I often commit the cardinal sin of the comma splice, something I read about while researching colons.

I sat through more than a few English classes in my early years. I have a B.A. in Communication, and an A.A. in Journalism. I am quite sure I was taught this information. I must have even known it once according to the grades on my transcripts.

In fact, at one time, I earned a salary for knowing these things.

Where has it all gone?

Math, on the other hand, I never really learned, and it almost prevented me from getting those above mentioned degrees. In a Hail Mary attempt, I finally managed to pass prerequisite Algebra I in the last semester of college.

But I had basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division nailed down.

Or so I thought.

I was trying to divide 2,678 by 8 the other day long hand on a piece of paper, because I was too lazy to get up and find the calculator. But I couldn’t remember how. Once I got 8 divided in to 26 and subtracted the remainder, I couldn’t remember if I brought down  the 7 and the 8 or just the 7 for the next step.

Sad isn’t it?

I will be of no help to my boys when it comes to homework.

I’ll be learning it all over again.

Right along with them.

Something that, as evidenced, is probably a good thing.

Bookmark To: