Last night I met an old friend for dinner.
Like me, he’s been an English teacher for a long time.
So what do English teachers talk about after a couple of beers?
English teaching!
Evil Pronouns
My friend used to be a teacher trainer.
That means he taught people how to teach English and how to teach grammar.
He quit because of pronouns.
Let me explain.
You see, most of his trainees were just out of college.
And what kids learn in American colleges these days is that pronouns are bad.
Specifically, pronouns like “he” and “she.”
They prefer pronouns like “it” and “they” which don’t tell you if it’s a man or a woman you’re talking about.
And then this started happening:
The American students would use one of the “good” pronouns.
“Bob is my friend. They live in Seattle.“
And my friend would correct the fluent English’s speaker’s grammar.
And the fluent adult would correct my English teacher friend.
He thought that was silly.
So he quit.
And now he teaches the real pronouns like a real man.
A pessimistic friend of mine once said: We may have to tolerate the idiots.Their number is growing..
Ha! I like that.