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Subject:Re: Grammar question - and knowing the rules From:Tom Campbell <tomcampbell -at- EUDORAMAIL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 25 Jan 1999 03:28:10 -0000
Lisa,
Regarding the "defenders of the language" concept, I ain't one of them. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little tech writers and grade school teachers and all them other'ns what whines." (Slight paraphrase.)
Splitting infinitives, misusing "hopefully," saying "It's me," and so on don't rank as High Crimes and Misdemeanors in my book. (And even if they did, it would just be a tempest in a teacup, wouldn't it?)
You said, "I will lose more readers by writing stilted, awkward, overblown garbage than I will by violating some silly 'rule.'" Hmmm...surely these aren't my only two choices.
I like what Ursula K. Le Guin has to say about "grammatical correctness" in her 1998 writing book, "Steering the Craft." She says she's guided by the Socrates quote, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul."
She goes on to say, however, "I detest the self-righteous tones of those who sneer at other people's speech, and I distrust their motives." However, she adds, "Whatever the writer does has to be within the frame of *knowing* those shared expectations ['the generally agreed-upon rules of grammar and usage']. Only if you know the rule can you break it."
Yeah, what she said.
I also agree with your statement "And we as technical communicators have less influence on the way English grammar evolves than does the heavy metal community." Thank goodness!
But I'm running the risk here of wandering too far off into meta-writing (writing about writing), which Eric asked us to refrain from. (There! I ended another sentence in a preposition! And I'm glad!) [Sorry, Eric.]
---
Tom Campbell
tomcampbell -at- EUDORAMAIL -dot- COM
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"You Can Do it Your Own Way
If It's Done Just How I Say"
--"Eye of the Beholder," from "...And Justice for All" by Metallica, 1988
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