Lessons from a Former Grammar Snob

*sigh* Because we all know those people.

It was sometime in early middle school when I figured out that I was a decent writer. Ever since I was old enough to read chapter books on my own, I read voraciously and absorbed syntax and grammar like a sponge in water. (But apparently, not original similes.) I was often praised by my teachers for my coherent and descriptive sentences, with their appropriately placed commas and semicolons, which aren’t always common to twelve-year-olds. And because I didn’t have much confidence in anything else about myself, I let my precise grammar abilities go to my head.

It didn’t help that my grandmother, a former kindergarten teacher, was and is also a grammar snob. I love her to pieces, but she still corrects me when I say, for example, “Me and mom went to the store,” instead of “Mom and I went to the store.” Needless to say, this doesn’t happen very often because it still sticks out in my brain whenever something is “grammatically incorrect.” Now I just don’t point it out when other people do it. *internally rolls eyes at the old me*

It wasn’t until college — literally 7–8 years of entitled grammar superiority later — that I finally realized that it doesn’t matter. I mean, not that you shouldn’t try to be grammatically correct in certain situations — your cover letter, your senior thesis, a nice thank you letter — but a misspelled word here or a misplaced comma there is no reason to beat yourself up, or more importantly, criticize someone else. And I haven’t even gotten to spoken conversation yet.

Yep, this definitely applies to writing on Medium too. That’s what got me thinking about this actually: I just finished reading someone’s article on the front page, and it had two very obvious mistakes in the first two minutes of my read.

But was that article helpful to me? Yes! Did I get the point they were trying to make even though there were a couple silly mistakes? Yes! So in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t. Actually. Matter.

But you came here for lessons, didn’t you? Alright, here are some lessons from a former grammar snob (on how to not be a grammar snob.)

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