The Sperrys: Never Underestimate the Will of a Child

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Never Underestimate the Will of a Child

Today I asked Eleanor to get me some toilet paper for Jack's runny nose. Quickly remembering that it was up high on the window sill I told her, "Never mind, it's too high for you." She walked over toward the bathroom and said to me, "Hey, me reach it just fine!" She then proceeded to climb up on the counter and get some toilet paper off the window sill. Those of you who know Ellie know that she is by far our smallest child and will soon be outstripped in size and weight by Jack. However, she has an indomitable spirit and will not be underestimated. I love you, Ellie!

3 comments:

Libby said...: Way to go, Ellie! What a big girl you are!; September 9, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Cindy said...: Wow! That will come in handy in the future!:); September 9, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Pals said...: Ellie, you're taking after your Great-Grandma Sandi Sperry. She used to climb everywhere when she was very little. Grandma Sperry would love to climb too, but the coming down was what terrified her the most.

Keep on climbing Ellie. You have the ability to reach new heights every day.

Love you,
Grandma Sperry; September 10, 2008 at 6:10 PM

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John and Sarah's Grammar Tips

Lesson 4: Should have looked up what "of" means! Welcome back bloggers to the Sperry Grammar Hospital. Here we like to heal the grammatically sick and afflicted. Today's treatment deals with a very important and often misused verb conjugation: the past participle. This one is, as we thought, pretty easy to understand, but many seem to think that the word "of" (which is a preposition) is a verb. If you go back far enough you will remember hearing something in elementary school about the "helping verb". Well this is what we're talking about. The helping verb in case is "to have". How many times have you written or seen written a sentence like this one: "I should of bought that car". See anything wrong with that sentence. If you don't, then you are our audience. The word "of" in that sentence is incorrect. That should be "have", because in this case we are dealing with the "Past Participle" or a subjunctive tense; something that should have happened, but didn't. You can't use "of" here because "of" is a preposition (a word that tells the relationship of two objects to each other). In this tense, the verb requires the help of the verb "have". Written correctly, the sentence would look like this: "I should have bought that car." Many times people also use the wrong verb conjugation in the past participle as well, but that's another lesson all together. So remember, if you say "should" or "could", make sure it's "have" not "of".

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Never Underestimate the Will of a Child

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