I admit it! I may be a bit partial since he is my seven-year-old grandson; however, he is smart for his age, and I am used to his using that logical mind to figure out the challenges I toss his way.
I am amazed that he can put together a puzzle of the United States by himself, point out the routes his family took when driving to Florida and Cooperstown for his brother’s baseball games. He knows in which states members of the extended family were born and/or live. Last week he said to me, “I’m now going to look at the western United States, turn my back and tell you all the states.” Which he did going as far east as the Dakotas … missing only one which he pointed out when he turned around.
What surprised me more … and delighted me even more since I love when the English language is used correctly … is that he understands how to use apostrophes correctly already. He was putting his “office materials” in my office into a folder and wanted to label it. He then showed me the label and said, “In this case, there is an apostrophe in Logan’s since the materials are mine.” Probably a good thing that I was already sitting!
When asked how he knew that, he replied that had studied apostrophes and commas in first grade! He tends to remember most everything he hears. Hurray, maybe there’s hope for the younger generation and proper grammar. At times, the two seem like an oxymoron.
I shared the story with one of my sons who is an attorney, and he responded he knows other attorneys who don’t know how to use them correctly. And as luck would have it, I received three emails that same day from professionals who used apostrophes incorrectly in their short messages.
Cheers, Logan, you have lots of work ahead of you!
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