Wednesday, April 17, 2019 // The Statement
2B

Managing Statement Editor

Andrea Pérez Balderrama

Deputy Editors

Matthew Harmon

Shannon Ors

 Designers

 Liz Bigham

 Kate Glad

 Copy Editors

 Miriam Francisco

 Madeline Turner

Photo Editor

Annie Klusendorf

Editor in Chief

Maya Goldman

Managing Editor

Finntan Storer
statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | APRIL 3, 2019

G

aining a solid foundation in 
grammar was one of the hall-
marks of my 10 years attend-
ing Catholic school. Every year, from first 
grade to eighth grade, there was a class 
dedicated solely to grammar, a 45-min-
ute block of time each day dedicated to 
learning the intricacies of the English lan-
guage. While most other schools include 
grammar as a unit in the all-encompass-
ing “language arts” class curriculum, my 
school gave it the attention it deserved.
We had both a textbook and workbook 
for the class, with nightly homework in 
each. While many of my classmates bris-
tled at the repeated instruction of nouns, 
verbs, adverbs and adjectives, believing it 
to be redundant and unnecessary, I found 
grammar class to be the best part of my 
day. I loved the challenge of continually 
trying to master the complexities con-
tained in learning grammar. There were 
always new concepts to learn, year after 
year. Dangling participles. Collective 
nouns. Passive voice.
Even the standard concepts underlying 
the language needed continuous atten-
tion; with grammar, there was always 
more work to be done. There were always 
new situations for which to apply the 
concepts, and every situation presented 
unexpected complications that made it 
different from another sentence. It was a 
never-ending quest to master the mate-
rial, and I enjoyed every second of that 
journey.
All those years of grammar class 
instilled in me an unconditional love of 
all things commas, appositives and semi-
colons. Having good grammar became an 
integral part of my identity, and I jumped 
at any chance to express that characteris-
tic. I would help my mom with grammar 
questions in her marketing presentations, 
ensuring there were no glaring errors in 
her sentences. I would edit my sister’s col-
lege papers for grammar. I would (some-
times) correct my parents when they used 
“who” instead of “whom,” at great annoy-
ance to them. I would mark my class-
mates’ papers full of comments in English 
class, pointing out every little deviation 
from the rigidity of grammar I could find.
It gave me great pleasure to flex my 
grammar muscles, and doing so made me 
a better speaker and writer. Unfortunate-
ly, many of these muscles atrophied dur-

ing my time in high school, as I didn’t have 
a class or activity in which to use them. 
That part of my identity lay dormant, 
waiting to be put to good use. And I found 
that good use when I joined the copy desk 
at The Michigan Daily.
When I showed up at The Daily my first 
semester of freshman year, I didn’t really 
know what I wanted to do at the paper. 
I planned on applying to News because 
it seemed like the “cool thing” to do, but 
I wasn’t so keen on the idea of covering 
events and interviewing attendees; I like 
working behind the scenes more. I didn’t 
think I had the people skills required 
for beat reporting, and I felt as though it 
would take me too far out of my comfort 
zone.
I had almost resigned myself to leaving 
The Daily without finding a role when I 
heard the copy chief start to speak. The 
minute I heard the words “grammar” 

and “editing” come out of her mouth, my 
ears perked up. Here was just the chance 
I desired to reorient myself with my true 
love: correct grammar. At the sight of 
the pre-test, I was instantly transported 
back to the good old days of middle school 
grammar class. I dived into those ques-
tions with a sense of eagerness and happi-
ness that I hadn’t found being stuck in the 
doldrums of distribution classes. I knew 
then that I found an outlet to channel my 
grammar energies (without annoying my 
parents).
I was beyond overjoyed to learn I was 
selected to be on the Copy team last Octo-
ber, and my joy has only increased in the 
past two semesters. Being on Copy has 
made me proud. While there would be no 
paper without the content sections, there 
would be no readable paper without the 
Copy section. Though our work may not 
be considered “sexy,” and we don’t get to 

put our name on the articles like writers 
do, our work is no less important.
We maintain The Daily’s journalistic 
integrity by ensuring the statistics cited 
in articles are accurate and represent the 
situation correctly. We certify students 
don’t have their names misspelled or their 
student organizations mischaracterized, 
avoiding students from being turned off 
by our work. And, most important of all, 
we make sure the paper is stylish; that is, 
there are no grammar errors and reading 
it aloud would sound pleasing to the ear.
In short, Copy smooths out the rough 
edges that can come with writing and 
makes The Daily the beautiful final prod-
uct you can find in many campus build-
ings. I am glad to be a part of that process 
every week, knowing that I can use my 
grammar knowledge for something posi-
tive.

Copy that: Turning my passion into reality

BY ALEXANDER COTIGNOLA, PRIMARY COPY EDITOR

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL