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Re: what's a paragraph; was: Active versus passive (WAS Displays vers us Appears-Which One?)
Subject:Re: what's a paragraph; was: Active versus passive (WAS Displays vers us Appears-Which One?) From:"Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 25 Dec 2000 08:23:57 -0500
Herm,
This is the Whole Language canard, that the next Shakespeare is sitting, bored to death, in a third grade classroom the next town over, while Miss Grundy drones on about the parts of speech. She'll crush his fragile self-esteem, and he'll never set pen to paper again voluntarily, and the world will be deprived of his great insights into the human spirit.
Gimme a break. Not only is this argument a specious one but it is also a red herring.
It is specious because the very definition of artistic creativity is breaking the shackles of convention. Until you learn draw a straight line, drawing a squiggle is merely childish. After you know how to draw a straight line, drawing a squiggle becomes a revolutionary act. Breaking some rule of formal grammar in order to express a personal style works only if there is a standard style to hold up in contrast. No Yin without the Yang, my friend. No good without evil. Life depends on death. It's the basic duality of the universe. Get used to it.
It is a red herring, because the purpose of instruction in English composition is not to sift through the detritus of third graders to find the next Shakespeare. It is to teach people of ordinary intelligence how to communicate ordinary thoughts in an ordinary way that is clear and straightforward.
Harrumph! And Merry Christmas, too.
Dick
"Herman Holtz" wrote:
> Helpful although it is to learn grammatical discipline, the great
>writers do not follow rules slavishly: they are usually innovators, whose
>literary styles compel them to bend the rules. Of course, the argument ca be
>and will be made that one must be an expert before he or she is qualified to
>bend the rules. My argument is that we must have a care in helping
>tomorrow's great writers develop by moderating our strictest ideas and
>recognizing that the development of style may be at odds with the strict
>conformance to accepted rules.
>This is not Latin; it is a LIVING language. Let us not urge it to an early
>death by denying it all opportunity to grow. - Herm
>
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