Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Our grammatical President-elect

Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Conversation

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his use of complete sentences, political observers say. Millions of Americans who watched Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth to speak.
But Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring. According to presidential historian, Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.
"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."
The historian said that if Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject, predicate - we get it, stop showing off." President-elect Obama's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.
That confuses me a bit, her grammar could use some work! That quote is right from her mouth, word for word. I still think it unplausable that she was even in consideration for VP, as I have stated before. I think it shows professional views if you use good grammar, but that's me talking, you can't really use me as a basis for judging these ideas!

2 comments:

Logan said...

It is interesting that you blogged about this. It sounds contradictory to using complete sentences.

Elizabeth said...

What do you mean?