Sir, – Many years ago I came across an article written by an academic regarding the use of the Americanism”gotten”. Her contention was that far from being an aberration the word was in fact begotten in the England of the Pilgrim Fathers and, whilst it survived in the new world, was eventually forgotten in the old. This may well be a misbegotten theory and no doubt some pundit will disagree declaring the word to be an ill-gotten corruption of the language. Still, it makes you think. – Yours, etc,
MARY REGAN,
Greencastle, Co Donegal.
Sir, – There is a simple, inexpensive way to stop the flow of bad grammar emerging from our schools. It would exploit the prime cause of that flow, the 10 per cent of Leaving Certificate English essay marks that are given for mechanics, that is, for spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax.
In the overall “points” context, those marks are so insignificant that neither students nor their teachers and parents need bother about them.
However, if those marks were appended to the Leaving Certificate, and employers demanded that they be mentioned in job applications, they would bother. – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH FOYLE,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.