LEND ME YOUR EAR: IN GRAMMAR, ONE WORD CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Although our local students score higher on standardized tests than the national average, business men and women of our area report that many high school graduates applying for jobs are unable to compose complete sentences. This does not necessarily apply to students writing for school newspapers or magazines, but some of the best are also careless or less than knowledgeable about grammar and syntax.

Nationwide, college students continue to express themselves poorly. Some weeks ago, on a TV special consisting of interviews with graduating seniors, one attractive young lady ventured: "I'm taking a major which I hope to get a teaching degree." Had she inserted "by" or "whereby" between "major" and "which," her statement would have been acceptable. But it isn't the major that is getting the degree; it's the "student" who is hoping to.

Several weeks ago, I saw a letter written by a high-ranking student about to complete her college education. "I graduate in April (which of course I'll send you an invitation)," she wrote her aunt with no period or capital letter to indicate a new sentence. But eliminate or replace "which" with "and" in this sentence, and the syntax is correct.

What one word, misplaced or misused, can do to render a sentence substandard is evidenced throughout the writing and speaking world; not only among young people still in school but among professionals in every field, including those in education. A superintendent of schools, participating in a TV panel on reading, has just announced: "The percentage of readers and non-readers in the group are uneven." Are It? The principal of a high school in Boston, complaining of the lack of parental support in fighting truancy, conceded: "We'll have to do the job, including myself." How do we "do" a school principal? Do him in?

On the subject of infant mortality, a CBS staffer reported: "Our government wants to raise the infant mortality rate." Surely she meant the government wants to lower the death rate among infants. Was this a slip, or did the reporter not know the meaning of "mortality"? How could anyone reach adulthood without learning it?

Pat Schroeder, holding forth on President Bush's failure to concentrate on domestic issues, declared: "Hi there! isn't gonna rise the economy." However we construe Hi there! Pat Schroeder did not raise her standing with the literate community of her native land not knowing the difference between "rise" and "raise."

During the Robert Gates hearings, one participant offered this slim excuse for being unprepared to testify: "I have not had access to the information to which I should have had access to." Though he was lacking in information, his final "to" was one "to" too many.

Congressman Gephardt, discussing the state of the nation on TV, said to an adversary, "I will not argue to you what you are saying." Since when have antagonists argued to their opponents? Your idiolect is showing, Mr. Gephardt.

On the same panel, Robert Novak inquired of the group: "You know why he (President Bush) didn't produce on his promise?" Good heavens, no one produces on anything, and people "live up to" (or renege) on promises. Simmer down, Bob, you can do better than this. You just haven't learned control.

Sen. Metzenbaum, during one of his miserable efforts to discredit Clarence Thomas, used the phrase "from henceforth." Henceforth means "from this time forward" and I fairly shouted this at the frowning visage on the screen. My reaction may have had less to do with the redundancy than with the effect Metzenbaum's manner had on me.

Still, I continue to be appalled by the lack of attention paid to vocabulary and sentence structure by so many notables intent on making themselves heard. More than likely, most don't know they don't know.

Gov. Clinton of Arkansas, upon announcing his intention to become number six on the Democratic ticket for the presidency, promised that, if elected, he would secure legislation ensuring a college education for every schoolchild in the country. This eager visionary needs to understand the distinction between quantity and quality. Quality is the term that will make the difference in education as in life.