I was talking with a friend the other day about the English language.  She has her degree from Azusa Pacific University, teaches in the public school system, and is gracious enough to offer her assistance to my grammar woes as I attempt to continue to become a writer.  I was telling her that I have trouble differentiating certain words that are very similar in both spelling and meaning.

I was asking her how she developed such a mastering of all the rules that go along with the primary written word we use here in the U.S.  She told me she was blessed to have had a grandfather who helped her understand the rights and wrongs of English when she was young.  She said her grandfather had a way of teaching that made things fun.  Here is an example of his sense of humor:

“Honey, don’t get too caught up in the rules of English”, he once told his eager to learn granddaughter.  “English is a crazy language.  What do I mean?  We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.  We have noses that run and feet that smell.  We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.  And if that’s not enough, if the plural of man is always men, why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?  If a father is Pop, how come Mother’s not Mop?  But the coup-de-grace is if a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?”

Thanks “Grandpa” for putting things into perspective…