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It's stifling - isn't it?
I'm making use of leaving-it-alone-For-a-While time to sound off about the basics. Those old things; spelling, grammar, and punctuation, are abilities that we all need to have mastered to a high degree in order to write well but it has been fashionable to say: "They don't matter. Bothering about those things stifles creativity." What poppycock!
Knowing about them furthers creativity. It's only when we do know about them that we are capable of writing a sentence, a chapter, a book that says just what we want it to say effectively,avoiding misunderstandings and achieving good rhythm. What is the use of having creativity in you if you don't know how to express it?
We might all slip up occasionally but it is surprising how some people don't see the obviousness of a grammatical error. Take dangling participles, for example. (I stand to be correctred if that isn't the right term.) Here is a prime example from the recent property pages of a local newspaper (as you'll see, it isn't the only offence);
"Having worked close to the airport for a number of years this studio was always ideally located for it's current owner."
Presumably, since the flat did all the work, it was paying its own mortgage whilst its owner just used it as a convenience.
Grammar is too wide a subject to be covered comprehensively here. I would like, though, to mention an example of bad use that I believe has crept in recently from America, along with "alternate" instead of "alternative". This is "tend to", as in "he tended to his garden". No, he didn't. He tended his garden or he attended to it but he didn't tent to it. I tend to get annoyed when I hear that.
The trouble with these things is that they are accepted and repeated and fall into widespread misuse until the correct version can be considered the wrong one. In punctuation, the so-called Oxford Comma has suffered this fate. My guess is that people who care about these things were all educated before 1970.
Ah, well. Now that I've had my whinge, I'm off for some caffeine.
Comments
I think it's fine to write the first draft without bothering too much about such things. Only the first draft though. Long before we reach the stage of expecting others to read our work we should do our best to ensure it's readable.
[quote=richt]Third point[/quote]
Sorry. I tried to stop myself.
I suspect that could be the case. Luckily I did one that did no such thing - the creativity was encouraged and everyone was told to write what they HAD to write, even if all the rules seemed to warn against it, because that was the right thing to write for them.
But a badly punctuated piece really annoys me, simply because it affects my ability to enjoy it and to hear it inside my head. If in doubt, read it aloud.
"I should of checked my essay for spelling and grammar." Yuk, Eurrrgh!
"I should have checked my essay for spelling and grammar."
You'd be amazed how many writers use the first version.
So maybe commenting on the content first and then on the grammar is more helpful - I'm not sure.
As adult writers though, do what you like when you are being creative, but put the work in afterwards to make it correct.
Perhaps English teachers could adopt the advice I was given when training people in advanced driving: don't point out every fault, just concentrate on the worst ones.
That's probably good life advice for married couples...
I am always right and I am no longer married.
My husband understands this.
My husband understands this.
We are twins, Helen.
But twins, yes.
With different parentage.
What if our husbands get us muddled up?
We must make a pact to never meet. Or at least, never meet without wildly differing hairstyles and clothing.
A change is as good as a rest, ladies. :D:
I am never right and I am married.
But I don't give a sh*t.
And what of Pete? I suspect there's already been some cross-pollination.
My husband understands this. [/quote]
Mine understands this even better after he's got it wrong and then admits that I was right all along.
SM, does your wife not know the value of Ex-Lax in the coffee?
Some good points have been made - including the ones about being right! I think I will always remain unprogressive where the issues I raised are concerned.
I'm all for correctness in terms of grammar, spelling and punctuation and I am of the opinion that if you have learned it correctly, you don't have to think about it as you write. It's like driving. All you need to focus on then are the ideas. Of course, regular tweaking at the end of each breather makes for even better writing. There's always a more effective word or phrase out there.
Apologies for taking your discussion off track. :(
My husband understands this.[/quote]
This is truly brilliant. I shall spend my life trying to master the trick.
'Bored of' is horrible, horrible. HORRIBLE.
Did you mean 'third pint'?
Mine's a Guinness.
Risky...
They never notice your hair, or the new clothes, except in, "Oh, I haven't seen those shoes before. How much did they cost you?"
To which the stock reply is, "What? These old things? I've had them for ages."
Be careful Liz he is probably an alien or a robot. Not normal behaviour for a man..
My husband understands this.[/quote]
Hehe mine sometimes forgets the golden rule, but on the whole he accepts the truth.
Why not? Are they all rude and impatient and not willing to do something for their wives? Why would any man not be helpful?
Could it be the fact I wonder that research shows women treat their boy children differently from their girl children, STILL, even in this day and age, not expecting them to pick up after themselves so much, or to learn to cook, or to learn how to use the washing machine. This sort of thing is inculcated within them from a very early age, not the lack of action, but the lack of EXPECTATION. Every man is capable of it.
True but it's not normal!