英语单词大师：Group Led by Seattle Writer

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Martha Brockenbrough, a writer in Seattle and founder¹ of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion² of Good Grammar. Five thousand people get her free e-mails about grammar, usage and what she calls "related outrages," and she has a blog at her Web site, spogg.org. She's always watching for errors like misplaced modifiers.

MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "I found one last week in a letter home from school. They were encouraging us to have our daughter apply to pre-school and they said 'Believing in a nurturing³ environment, our preschool is located in a house.' Well, 'our preschool' is the subject of that sentence. Does our preschool believe in the nurturing environment, or do the teachers? And so it's the sort of thing that can be confusing.

"And when you step back a minute, and you think about all the problems in the world that come from bad communication, well, how many of them, if we just took a little bit of care with our language, could we prevent?"RS: "How would you rewrite that sentence?"MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "I would probably break it into two sentences. I would say 'We believe in creating a nurturing environment for our preschoolers. So, we've put our preschool in an actual house, instead of a traditional academic building.' Something like that."AA: "I'm curious, as a grammar activist⁴, have you faced any opposition⁵ or what we now call 'pushback' in your efforts?"MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "Well, everyone who writes in the public eye gets criticism. So I'm pretty regularly told 'You're stupid,' and I would take it a lot more seriously if they used the apostrophe instead of just Y-O-U-R. But there are two kinds of pushback that I do think about and I do take seriously, and I'll try to address them.

"So linguists⁶ tend to disdain⁷ prescriptive grammarians. So they say, 'Oh, language evolves and language isn't the rules that have been codified⁸, sometimes even centuries ago, but it's how living speakers use it.' And I think that there's a bit of truth and wisdom to that, and that's why I'm the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, not perfect grammar. I do think that there's some flexibility⁹.

"The second objection is when people say, 'Well, isn't grammar sort of racist¹⁰ and classist, that these rules are created by rich white folk and for people who are using their own legitimate¹¹ and consistent dialect, isn't this totally unfair?' You know, there probably is some truth to that. But, on the other hand, let's look at clothes as an example. You're not going to make it very far in the business world if you're not dressed to the code."RS: "How have you seen this Web site evolve?"MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "Well, I would love to have the time to post more frequently. I would also love to get more members and have people, when they find ungrammatical roads signs, send them in. They do it to a certain extent, but for right now it's just me. It would be great to be able to get into schools and show that it can be fun and funny to find errors and correct them. I don't think you need to be mean or snotty about it. We're also starting National Grammar Day. The first one is next year, on March fourth, which is not only a date, it's a complete sentence. ..."AA: "How's that?"RS: "How's that?"AA: "Oh, march forth¹²! March, M-A-R-C-H, forth, F-O-R-T-H."MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "Yep, march forth for good grammar!"AA: "Now, last question here. Earlier, we heard your kids in the background playing. Now I'm curious, what are you doing to put them on the road to good grammar, and are you afraid that maybe when they grow up, because of what their mom's been doing, that they're actually going to rebel against it?"MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "My youngest is three, and she already knows the difference between 'can I' and 'may I' and I think that's just because she's heard it. And so when my kids do make little mistakes, I don't stop them and correct them, but I will repeat their question or their comment back using the correct grammar, and I'm hoping they'll eventually pick it up."AA: "And for those who may not be clear on the difference between 'can I' and 'may I,' would you like to explain that?"MARTHA BROCKENBROUGH: "If you 'can' pick up a fifty pound box of books, that means you're strong. But if you 'may,' that means that you have someone's permission to do so."AA: Martha Brockenbrough, founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

3 nurturing   

养育( nurture的现在分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• These delicate plants need careful nurturing. 这些幼嫩的植物需要精心培育。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants. 这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

7 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

8 codified   

v.把（法律）编成法典( codify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the meantime, however, Kennecott had been codified elsewhere in the Act. 然而，“肯尼考特”一案已被编人法案。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Congress has since codified this holding. 从那时以来，国会编纂整理了最高法院的这一裁定。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

9 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

10 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

11 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

12 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。