AIBU to think my DS is over punctuating? His teacher thinks not...

[schoolworkadviceds]

This was his work.

"We left, to go to Thorpe Park, at 10 am. It was really fun, but very cold. Although it was cold, I didn't want to wear a jacket (it would have gotten in the way) but my mum kept nagging me. It was a bright, green one, though, how awful is that?"

It was written a couple of months ago.

His teacher says it was 'perfect'. It isn't though, is it? I'm obviously not going to say anything to DS. I am genuinely curious for myself! As I do often try and correct him with punctuation and I'm probably correcting him wrong!

Nothing wrong with 'gotten?'

There's EVERYTHING wrong with it!

Trifle I have a very busy, high pressure job. I don't type my own correspondence either but I do proof read it once the dictated version comes back to me. If I didn't my clients would be appalled to receive uncorrected versions and if I made a habit of it I'm sure I'd be handed my P45.
Teachers are supposed to teach our children those skills. Of course they shouldn't set a bad example by being sloppy.

The 'gotten' hatred is one of those weird anti-Americanisms. It's a very old form, lost over here and preserved in American English. Quite a useful form too -

'In North American English, got and gotten are not identical in use. Gotten usually implies the process of obtaining something, as in he had gotten us tickets for the show, while got implies the state of possession or ownership, as in I haven't got any money'

So there you go.

en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gotten

Asked DS and he meant bright as in stood out not that the green is bright. It still seems odd with the comma

Oh I do like being right!

I'm sort of with the teacher here. It's not perfectly punctuated, but if she's drowning in a sea of 'would of' and 'its cold out' it'll look pretty damn good. He's nine and writes better than many adults.

I'd leave that comma in.

I'm more concerned about the apostrophes in some of the responses!

He's nine and has just got the concept of commas. It's abso-blooming-lutely perfect for his age. There are 16 year olds resitting GCSE English right now who under-use commas.

I suspect that all those who use punctuation marks well will have gone through a stage where they used them excessively, probably through trying to be safe. I certainly remember a point when I never dared omit commas; my essays were so broken up by commas at every conceivable break that they might as well have been built from Lego bricks.

It's a tricky one Middleoftheroad. If he wants to say that the jacket is both bright and green wouldn't it be better with a comma after green as well as before?

a bright, green, jacket.

Good point.....

I'm guilty of using too many commas. I use lots of dashes - I struggle with colons and semis.

'Gotten' is taking over. All us gotten-haters are fighting a losing battle. In fact I'd say the battle's already lost, if its constant use on MN is anything to go by.

I'm more concerned about the apostrophes in some of the responses!

I am guilty of one of those and had a bright red face (not a bright, red one) when I saw I had posted it. I blame predictive text.

Yes lovewine it's a down south thing particularly Dublin..

I agree with a lot of pps the ops ds is doing great and doesn't need his grammar pulled apart..

Do the "gotten" haters also hate "forgotten"?

What's wrong with forgotten Seneca

Absolutely nothing, Lucy, but I forget/I forgot/I have forgotten follows the same pattern that present-day British people find so odd in the (older) N.American conjugation of get.

I get/I got/I have got isn't an innately superior form to I get/I got/I have gotten. It's just... more modern and our local form.

From an American grammarian's point of view, it's a linguistic degradation.

I was just suggesting an apparent inconsistency in British English, Lucy. "Forget" contains the root work "get". In American English, "gotten" is the past participle of "to get" as "forgotten" is the past participle of "to forget."

Partial cross-post with Tara.

And "forgot" as a past participle of "forget" is considered an archaic form in British English.

Not RTFT but I like the writing other than the last sentence. :) It's very expressive.

The question at the end was because they were being taught about rhetorical questions. I thought he liked his coat so I did ask