Grammar Rules
Attribute it to the nuns, who during my tenure at Catholic grade school, taught me to take everything seriously especially grammar. Their wisdom left its mark. I respect grammar.
The other day I got into a discussion with an acquaintance about the use of the so-called Oxford comma or serial comma. That is the last comma that appears in a series. “Bill likes chicken, pork, and steak dinners.” Proper grammar such that used by the United States Government Printing Office argue for its use for clarity sake. Bill likes chicken dinners. Bill likes pork dinners. Bill likes steak dinners. Pork and steak dinners are a very different thing, surely.
My acquaintance argued against its use, citing MayoClinic.com and a few other websites that shun the comma. Horse feathers, I said. Grammar is grammar. It is not a matter of convenience. My objection is bending the rules at one’s choosing. If that happens, they’re not really rules are they, but suggestions. Pretty soon we’ll be writing thru for through and nite for night.
Newspapers appear to be the doomsayer of the serial comma. Whether it’s for space sake or just re-written grammar rules, it’s hard to say. Most authorities, however, embrace its use. As a geek who appreciates order and expected outcomes, I concur. Long live the Oxford comma!
My Grammar Pet Peeves
I’ve been reading several blogs lately, many of which focus on grammar. I appreciate good grammar and abhor bad grammar. It’s probably due to the rigorous teaching of those nuns in Catholic grade school for which I am eternally grateful. I am not claiming to be any kind of grammar guru, but there are a few things that burn my butter. Since others have seemed to enjoy bringing their “favorite” grammatical sins to life, here are a few of my own.
My first pet peeve is not one I can ever recall reading, but I hear quite often. I’ll overhear someone saying, “He come by the house yesterday.” Grrr-rrr! I hate that. He CAME to the house yesterday. Drives me nuts when I hear that.
Like my first, my second is not one in the books, but usually lurks on handmade signs advertising garage sales or in-store specials. “Give your pet it’s own special treat.” It’s? Don’t you mean ‘its’? The absence of the apostrophe denoting the possessive confuses some, it appears.
The apostrophe is also the enemy in another pet peeve that unlike the others, I do see often online and occasionally in books or articles. The article or website will refer to the “salad days of the 1950′s.” Sorry, no apostrophe needed here, folks. 1950s can stand well on its own.
Ok, now that I have that off my chest, I can get back to writing.
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Murder To Order
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More On Grammar
I signed up for a Google blog alert, using the search term, “writing tip”. Google BlogSearch allows you to receive daily emails on your keyword of choice. I did have to tweak my search term to get alerts about the blogs I wanted to read, but having used this for a few weeks now, I’ve learned a great deal.
One of the blogs that came up on my search today was about yet another troublesome grammar issue, the use of lay, lie, and laid. Usually when I’m writing, I gravitate toward what sounds right. I’ll lay the book on the table for you. I’m going to lie down. Still, this blog took things a step further to look at past tense and past participle forms. Worth a look.
Watching Your As and Us
This is the kind of blog I like: one that makes me think about my writing. For the most part, I think I do all right on grammar. I can spot a misplaced it’s about as good as anyone. It’s one of my pet peeves, actually. Seeing a sentence like, “it shook it’s head”, drives me nuts. I guess I can thank the nuns for that. The hateful ruler and the mighty eraser performed their tasks admirably during my tenure at Catholic grade school.
Since I’m at the polishing stage on my work, I find the reminders about grammar helpful. I am forced to scrutinize my work. It’s not too much further for me. I’ll be sending out those query letters in no time.
And if you’re still not sure about the difference between further and farther, listen to the soundtrack from Smoke Signals, “Father and Farther”. Or better yet, just watch the movie.
Or better yet, just watch the movie.Is That That Bad?
I came across this post regarding a point of grammar that sometimes leaves me scratching my head. Is that always necessary? As the post points out, usage often decides its efficacy. That bad, that fat, that great all have their place. As a conjunction, one needs to look closer.
The example as given in the article makes perfect sense. It also brings to light an important aspect of revising. If you’re like me and I know I am, during the initial process of revising, my concentration is on the sound and flow of my work as I read it out loud and identify weak areas. Frankly, I’m not scrutinizing my work at that point to determine how my wording may or may not mislead a reader. My focus is style. Which brings me to the next point in my writing process.
Read a few writing blogs and sooner or later, you’ll stumble upon a post regarding strong versus weak words. I’ve inventoried those words, such as could, get, look, and walk. In an effort to view my work critically, I’ve searched through my list of weak words as they appear in my work. I am then taking the time to examine the sentence/paragraph structure and deciding if I can make it stronger. Sometimes it’s perfectly acceptable to say walk because a substitute like traipse while it will add variation, it may not convene the message properly or be too distracting. So, to my list of words to watch, I will add that.
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