Pardon the Mistakes
My mother, Gail, used to teach High School English. That should explain a lot about me.
Gail was also the editor of her school newspaper and my dad's Master's Thesis. When she was a counselor at a high school that went through an arduous accreditation process, my mom was the one who had to edit the gazillion-page document.
You can imagine the challenge of growing up under that kind of scrutiny!
My mother is the reason that I have any clue about eliminating the passive voice, using the "oxford comma," managing my "tenses," and how to use a semi-colon (and that's still a challenge). She is the reason I cringe when people use the (non) word, "irregardless," or try to make "its" possessive by adding an apostrophe. Don't even get me started on "your" versus "you're!"
These may seem like finer points of the English language, but they make a difference - at least to Gail and me. (No - it's not "Gail and I" and the apostrophe is ok with the "it's" in this sentence because I'm using it as a conjunction for "it is" - so don't call mom!!)
Still, for all of the coaching I've had, my skill set is not even close to being where I want it to be. Let's face it, English is a very difficult language.
That's why I enjoyed this video from a 102-year-old gentleman who so succinctly points out the absurdity of it all.
The next time you misspell a word (or notice that someone else has), cut them a little slack. After all, they aren't "dum."