A question:
Did schools stop teaching basic grammar? Or is there a ânew ruleâ Iâm unaware of?
Iâve noticed a trend at the studio. We bring in artists to record scratch dialogue but the younger ones get thrown by grammar. For example, the script will read (total made up names):
Marsha: How are you, John?
& if the scratch dialogue artist is older they will read it as âHow are you John?â One thought.
But if they are younger they read it as âHow are you ⊠John?â Two thoughts. Like theyâve never seen John before or John dropped dead while they were talking to him.
Every one who is younger than me (Iâm 34) does this pause. Which makes me think itâs not just one guy messing up or the olâ âtheyâre artists, they didnât excel in that area of schoolâ joke. Because itâs all of them. We even have one guy, same younger age, whoâs here from a European country doing the same thing!
& they get really thrown when I call another take saying that comma isnât an acting note but just grammar. They just donât get the commaâs use in that instance.
What am I missing? Is it some internet fanfic trend I missed? Am I old? Is it the 1984 book & theyâve started rewriting the language? Are public schools failing?
I know Iâm caring too much about this but itâs driving me nuts!
In my experience, the comma when used in "direct address", should be associated with a slight cadence or voice inflection change, but there isn't normally an overly long pause unless the speaker is trying to be condescending or super-dramatic. If the inflection or timing is too far off, it sounds kind of robotic.
The clearest example I can think of is the Simpsons episode where Bart and Lisa end up on opposing hockey teams. During their face-off, there is a shot where one half of the crowd yells, "Kill, Bart!" and the other half of the crowd yells, "Kill Bart!" (See around 1:30 in the following clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsQo9Yevun0 ) There you can see that the different groups pronounce the phrase with emphasis in different places.
Can you alleviate the problem by demonstrating how you want them to enunciate the sentence?






















