Re: describing the minority as literate is a circular argument?

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

Probably not much to the reader, and that's probably a good thing,
as you really don't want your readers concentrating more on the
"quality" of your writing than on its content.  But the relevancy of
"literacy" to "good communication" rests in the ability of the writer
to recognize the potential effects of good and bad grammar on
readers and to adjust grammar usage to suit the targeted reader.
A writer with a high level of literacy and the ability to do this will
be able to use either "proper," or "improper" grammar as called for
by the situation at hand; the writer who lacks either the high level
of literacy, the ability to adjust grammar usage or both will have a
more limited capability to communicate effectively to different
audiences.

Gene Kim-Eng




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Byfield" <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>

> No argument that there is a difference, but I'm not sure how it's relevant
here.
>
> To start with whether poor grammar is used deliberately or for effect
doesn't
> change the claim that grammar isn't directly connected to effective
communication.
>
> More importantly, if you look at writing by the marginally literate, or at
> transcriptions of the speech of the uneducated, you can find as many
memorable
> passages as you can in the writing or speech of the literate and educated.
I
> read a lot of biography, and I've been very struck by this observation in
> reading accounts written by British sailors and the poor in the 19th
Century. I
> also remember reading an excerpt from the journal of Blackbeard the pirate
which
> doesn't even use proper sentences, yet is still extremely vivid.



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