Grammar. I really don’t like grammar. I don’t even like the way it is spelled, because to me whenever anyone says it, it sounds like they are saying gramm-ER and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this. The main gripe I have with grammar is how many rules, exceptions, formats etc. etc. there are in it. Like the “I” before “E” rule. How often is that actually right? Weirdly itĀ seemsĀ never to be right. Another thing that makes grammar difficult to grasp for me is that I have no real understanding of how the English language is supposed to work, giving my feeble attempts to learn grammar nothing to stand on. Going off this I need to apologize to my elementary teachers because their attempts to teach me the Shurley Method have failed on epic proportions. For example, my solution to comma placement is putting them where it feels right. For me to really learn grammar I think that I would need to be put in some semester long or yearlong course that went through everything starting at the most basic level and continuously beat it into my head till I understood it.
For me getting your message across and making sure everyone understood what you meant is the most important thing. This is the only time I view grammar as necessary, or when you are in a business setting. Besides that, grammar is just something that is there to make you wrong in my opinion. For example, the difference between “Let’s eat grandma” and “Let’s eat, grandma” (where in the former you are suggesting to eat your grandmother) seems rather extreme and an abysmal failure of why grammar is necessary. Unless you are speaking with cannibals, are actually suggesting to eat your grandmother, or are in some other non-normal situation where societal standards of not eating people has vanished, I think that the message is rather clear that you want to eat and are telling your grandmother so.
I have trouble using correct grammar, let alone recognizing correct grammar. So my only pet peeve about grammar usage is when people fail to use the correct form of “there/their/they’re” “your/you’re” etc. because it is so incredible simple and easy to remember. Another thing I don’t like is when people write emails and texts using shorthand like “2″, “u”,”ur”,”b” etc. Spell out the stupid word. It’s less than 5 characters long. Acronyms however, are fine, like ASAP (as soon as possible). Other than that, I wish grammar would just leave me alone.