A Tru Perspective...
Back to Basics
By Norman Bashore 

I am declaring war on three basic grammar rules:  the use of “seen”, “between you and I”, the blatant misuse of “you”.  I chuckle as I listen to our newscasters, most of whom are college graduates, but they still have not mastered the correct use of these forms.  It gets worse when athletes are the broadcasters.  What’s worse is when I see emails from our professors who can’t connect two sentences intelligently yet have masters/doctoral degrees.  It makes me wonder how they got their degree. 

I know the argument that why get so up tight if I say “seen” instead of “saw”, or I use “between you and I” or I use “you” as in “You smell the hotdogs cooking at the tailgate party.”  When I say “back to basics”, I am talking in terms of formal presentation such as an essay, a speech, or even broadcasting because if we are lax in these areas, we only perpetuate the errors.  Since “grammar” sense is formed by those who raise us, it would be in our own self interest to “educate” parents so that our language can be preserved otherwise we’ll going to end up with a language not unlike text messages which takes a whole new set of communicating. 

I am an elitist in this regard.  Why do we have to “dumb” down tests such as the ACT or SAT?  Because we have failed to hold fast to the guidelines of good grammar and taste.  If Johnny can’t get it, let’s make the test easier instead of holding the student and teacher accountable for better language skills. 

In the case of “seen” where we hear “I seen you at the mall yesterday”, we can see that we do understand what the person is saying, but it is grammatically incorrect because “seen” is a past participle and these always require a helping verb.  Yet, when we hear foreign dignitaries, they handle our language beautifully and don’t come across as some dumb foreigner while our native speakers seldom get this right. 

Another case in point is the use of “I” after “between” which of course requires the objective case “me” instead of “I”.  Again, I know what the speaker intends but it also shows me the speaker either doesn’t know or disregards the correct use because “it sounds better.”  We’ll never master the English language as long as we use the rule “it sounds better” which is an emotional reaction not an intellectual one.  If we take shortcuts with the language, then we are shortchanging those with whom we interact.  As humans, I thought we were supposed to lift each other up not continue in ignorance.  It is as though we are ashamed of ourselves because we use the language properly.  We allow those the less intelligent among us to dictate “what sounds right” rather than logically think through what is intelligently correct.  We have “dumbed down” America. 

Finally, I want to harp on the misuse of the second person pronoun “you” which is used horrendously among us.  College professors seldom correct students who use “you” when the writer means “I” or “She.”   For example, “attending the tailgate party, you could see the excitement, and your mouth watered at the smell of brats and chicken being grilled.”  Why is it so hard for people to say “I could feel the excitement and smell brats and chicken being barbecued”?  Is it because we were taught early that saying “I” was incorrect?  Is it the fault of broadcasters who always stress the news “you” need to know. 

Or is it the politicians who say “they are taking your tax dollars for this project. 

I am calling for a national referendum to have the word “you” stricken from our vocabulary unless used for “second person” which is the imperative case:  “Close the door” where the subject “you” is understood.  So, unless we are giving commands or actually giving someone something:  “Here, this is for you” let’s not be afraid to use the word “I” when appropriate, and stop this foolishness passing stuff onto “you.”