Rosemary, you must be a natural writer. I wish that I were. I also wrote a thesis for graduate school. Of course in my daily writings, letters and internet messages, I'm not as precise with my writing. Yet, I am always thinking while I write I am concerned that I write in the correct tense and that I don't end a sentence with a preposition.
Old habits die hard.
Oh well, I appreciate what you said about Benjamin Franklin. I have read several aricles by Franklin, Washington, etc. Unfortunately I am not as discipined as the teachers were then, nor are my students. This is a great discussion. I always love what all of you have to say even when we don't agree on everything.