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Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
by Tom Kelley
Okay, it's time for a show of hands. How many of you are members of the "Grammar Police" and caught my colossal gaff in yesterday's column? That's fine. You can raise them. My feelings won't be hurt one bit. I made a mistake in grammar and it got through my proofread. I saw it right after I sent it out yesterday. So I figure a number of you also caught it. If you didn't, let me point it out to you. It was in the very first paragraph and the seventh sentence.
Here's how it read. "The grandchildren of one of our elders attended the VBS and was talking with her grandfather about the guy leading the song service." I've highlighted the offensive elements for you. In proper grammar you never have a plural noun coupled with a singular verb and possessive pronoun. The sentence should have read either, "...grandchildren...were talking with their grandfather…", or "...grandchild...was talking with her grandfather…" The following sentence would have also been changed appropriately.
Why make such a fuss over something as insignificant as the way a few words go together? Because words are important. They are our means of communication. Unless they are grouped and used properly they can carry a completely different meaning. The confusion that improperly grouped or grammatically incorrect words can cause may be seen in the Pennsylvania Dutch phrase, "Cut me up and throw me out the door a piece of meat." That may be the literal translation from their native tongue but it is confusing in our language.
It's all about the proper use of words and it IS important. It's not just about sounding intelligent or educated. It's about communicating thoughts accurately to one another so that the exchange of facts and ideas has a chance to take place. If it doesn't, a lot of things can fail in our society. One of the most important things that could fail would be that of evangelism. No other part of our service to God and His kingdom is so dependent upon words as evangelism. Bottom line; fail in evangelism and we pretty much fail in who and what we are.
From the time that Jesus called His disciples, the ones we know as "The Twelve," He taught them to communicate the message accurately so that people would know what they were telling them. He then passed on that mission with His last words following His death, burial and resurrection. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19, 20 We must communicate the message accurately.
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Choking can be Hazardous to Your Eternal Health
Read Article »...He was the Minister of the Minorsville Christian Church located near Stamping Ground, KY.
...Becky and Tom have three children; John, single and in worship ministry in Nicholasville, Kentucky; Sean, married (Jennifer, elementary school teacher) with twins (Grace and Patrick, b.d. 10/31/04) and regional director of Papa John's Pizza in Central KY; Kara, married (Vince Taylor, prison guard) and working with Hospice East in Winchester, KY.
...Tom went to be with the Lord on November 13, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer. If you have been touched by Tom's writings please send an email to Tom's son at jkelley@catalystchristian.net
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