A (Quick) Grammar Lesson

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Hey friends! We’re going to brush off our grammar textbooks this morning. I know it’s been a while since we were 12 or so, but it’s good to have a review every now and then. Now I’ll admit, I’m pretty rusty with this myself, so if you find an error, please let me know so I can fix it!

Today, we’re going to talk about how you can omit words from certain sentences to shorten them, but it doesn’t change the meaning. Now I’ll be honest, I don’t have any of my grammar textbooks anymore, and when I tried doing a Google search most of my results came up with omitting words when quoting something for academic purposes. A very important thing to know, but not relevant for today.

We’ll start off with our imperative sentences. If you can stretch your memory back that far, any time you give a command, the word “you” is omitted.

(You,) Pass the salt.
(You,) Yell for the dog.
(You,) Wipe the mud off your shoes before you come inside.

Easy, right? You don’t need to say the word “you” for people to understand you’re directing the command to them. Now, if you’re in a group of people and you want a specific person to do a task, that’s where a name or indicator is helpful. We’re speaking in general terms here, though.

Then there are our sentences that can end with “too.” You can indicate something you have in common with another human, without having to say the word too. We usually say it, but sometimes it isn’t necessary.

“I love ice cream (too).”
“I prefer cats, but dogs are great (too).”
“I grew up in Texas (too).”

So why–why, why, why–do people forget this when someone says this sentence?

“Black lives matter (too).”

No one is saying Black lives matter more than others. “Black lives matter more than others” is not something you can say and omit words.

Try saying it out loud.

“Black lives matter.”
“Black lives matter, too.”

They even FEEL like they mean the same thing, right? It’s because they do.

Listen, I used to say “all lives matter.” It wasn’t out of maliciousness–it’s that I believe all lives, including Black lives, have value and matter. But my white life isn’t constantly inconvenienced or endangered by the color of my skin. Once things were explained to me and I had the heart to listen, I understood. I made a lot of mistakes and hurt a lot of people. But damn, y’all, this is an easy thing to get right.

If you truly believe in the merits of the phrase “all lives matter,” in October, please attend a breast cancer philanthropy event and talk about how all cancer charities are important to support, not just breast cancer. Let me know how it goes for you.

Black lives matter.

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