That Teacher Stuff

Nouns are words that name people, places and things while adjectives do the job of describing and telling how the former may appear. It is easy to remember, but sometimes there is a mix-up or just simple carelessness or ignorance and people use the name as a place. And that's okay if we are speaking of the vernacular that most of us use everyday. But that doesn't make language right. When you say, I am going to the doctor's, what you really mean is that you are going to the doctor's office or clinic and there, you will see the doctor. Doctor is a noun. The doctor is not a place, he/she is a person. The other word "doctor's" refers to a place and is an adjective describing where the doctor has his/her offices. The two are not the same. One is a person and the other is a place.Then there is the ever present misuse of don't and doesn't and so on and on. These kinds of usage often cause the corrected to become defensive and rant that pedantry is used while the corrector, pleads that while that may be so, it doesn't change the language. Some folks are more particular than others and that's okay either way. Becoming offended at being corrected or imagining that you are being corrected is another thing. Teachers hear this all the time even when they are not correcting someone, their own correct usage is fodder for the one who is in error and embarrassed, charges pedantry or worse. If you know someone well and want to help them correct their mistakes, you might tell them privately but even there, in my experience, you tread on dangerous ground. The safest tactic is to let them go on sounding blissfully ignorant while biting your lip! Ouch.