(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fewer/Less
Fewer birds
Because you can count.
And less time.
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Their/There
Their mistakes
Are the ire of men
Over there.
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Listen Is A Verb
Hear me out:
Don’t “take a listen”.
Just listen.
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Except After C
Just believe
An I before E
Don’t – deceive.
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In the 7th through the 12th grades, I had two excellent English teachers. One of those, I had twice. No! I didn’t fail. 🙂 Another taught me conjugation of verbs and diagramming, for which I’ve always been grateful. A fourth was a good teacher, but I don’t recall anything that stands out from her classes. A fifth – well, enough said. I’ve sometimes wondered what Mrs. Ruby (the teacher I had for two years) would think of my poetry. She had an intensity and passion about her that brought a fire into her eyes as she talked about literature. My love of poetry was fueled by her classes, so she’s the one person I would have most wanted to read my poems.
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* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.
See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed:
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/
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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2012.
The Bard on the Hill 
8^)=
I’m sorry Mrs. Ruby is evidently not around to read your poems, but if it helps at all to know this, I am also an English teacher who has a strong passion for literature and even for plain old grammar. And I think your work is extremely good. It has a spark that’s special, and perhaps that’s partly because you do such a good job of combining deeply felt emotions and ideals with so many “everyday” subjects and activities. Mrs. Ruby would have to be proud!
Thanks for the kind words. Since Mrs. Ruby is no longer around to read them, I’ll take your reading as a substitute.
Love these, Dennis – you’ve touched the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of my pet peeves, lol. I’m a bit OCD about grammar, spelling and word usage … I think your teacher(s) would be very proud of you! 🙂
Glad you liked them! I’ve got a few more, too. Even though I know better, I sometimes slip. And in my poems, I sometimes violate a rule and use poetic license for the sake of rhyme or rhythm but feel like I’ve just dragged my fingernails down the chalkboard in English class.
everyone knows that the saying is…never i before E, except after C!!!!
There! Right?
Except for the never. 🙂
Received the correction!! 😮
🙂
I will let you have this only because I know what delirious strange joy it give you……:-D
Then, I am deliriously happy to accept your gift! 🙂
This was fun to read. “Their/There” was my favorite.
Glad you enjoyed them. *They’re* *there* for *their* educational value as well. 🙂
MANY are the possible pet peeves in grammar!! 😀
Yes, someone said they were the tip of the iceberg and I’ll add that that iceberg would sink the Titanic.
I’m grateful to two English teachers. One was a rather nasty young man, but he taught with clarity and taught the principles of grammar, which rather bored me but stood me in good stead. The other was a quite old man of immense humanity, honesty and dry wit. I learnt, amongt other things, an honest and perceptive approach to literature from him. He’d certainly be dead now: otherwise I’d have wanted to find him and share my poems and have a drink, if he drank.
I’m a bit like that, too. I had one teacher no one really liked much but she taught conjugation of verbs and diagramming extremely well and I benefitted much from her teaching.