Singular problems with plurals

Okay, listen up--there will be a quiz later.

The English language contains words stolen from all over the world, reflecting the history of the language and the countries upon whom it was forced. Among these are words of Latin and Greek origin.

I'm willing to accept that the deplorable state of education means schools both in the US and abroad are turning out graduates with appalling levels of ignorance. However, that doesn't excuse aspiring writers who desire to have a future as professionals. And if I have to see or hear someone say that "television is a media..." I may get violent.

Medium used as a noun is singular. Television is a communications medium. Media is the plural form: television, newspapers and magazines are all news media.

Then we have criteria, another word people persist in using incorrectly. "Being a writer is a criteria for membership."

No, being a member is a criterion for membership--singular.

You cannot have a bacteria. You may have a bacterium, and when it starts propagating itself then you will have bacteria but not a moment before.

Do surgeons perform surgery without instruments? Do gardeners tend the lawn without tools? Then why is it people will decide they're going to be writers but can't manage to acquire those basic tools of the profession: a dictionary, a thesaurus, a stylebook and a book on common usage errors?

I recently took part in a discussion on the editing, or lack thereof, that is apparent in far too many published books. There was a time when the established industry was comfortable sneering at the burgeoning independent ebook industry for its lack of editorial quality. They no longer have any room to talk.

Yet there is still a segment of the wannabe-a-writer contingent that seems to think they don't have to clean up their work, that some helpful editor somewhere will tend to their errors of grammar, punctuation and usage once they get that manuscript sold. It apparently doesn't register that no editor is going to look past the first three errors to find the gold buried therein.

What's particularly problematic is that some of these people are skilled and experienced experts in other fields. Is it possible they expect the acquiring editor to do what their secretary has done all these years--make them look good?

Ain't happening, people. No matter how great a writer you are, how fantastic your book is, if it looks like forty pages of bad grammar it won't get through my door. Not just because it suggests a lack of skill in the basic tools of the writing trade but because it suggests that I'm so desperate for something to publish I'll do anything to lay hands on it.

I'm not. And I won't.