Comments on: Avoid the Apostrophe Apocalypse: A Survey of Recent Books on Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation

By: Sean Michael Dodd

Sean Michael Dodd — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:19:27 +0000

Unfortunately, grammar has taken such a bad rap because of the wrong-headed and heavy-handed manner in which it is taught. Human language is an organic phenomenon and so are its grammars. The grammar of any given language is merely a description of the most prevalent trends of accepted usage. For many centuries, however, grammatical concepts of Latin were superimposed on English, with disastrous consequences. English has much more plasticity than Latin, especially in its verbs and its syntax. The preachy prescriptivists ruled the roost pretty much up to the mid 20th Century, when Noam Chomsky published his groundbreaking works on the concept of a "universal grammar". Linguistics then took a turn toward a more scientific approach of describing what was, rather than prescribing what should be. New generations of descriptivist grammarians have since redefined our common notions of linguistic competency. In my own work as a linguist and educator, I have always viewed grammar as the DNA of a given language. Especially for adult learners, there are few better shortcuts to language mastery than acquiring a solid understanding of key grammatical concepts. Far from cluttering the mind with endless rules and exceptions, a competent teaching of key grammar concepts actually achieves just the opposite; it provides a quick and readily usable template for the learner to superimpose over the language, freeing him up to try out new expressions within the parameters of that matrix. Arguing against grammar is just as absurd as arguing against the rules of arithmetic, the system of road signs, pavement markings, and traffic signals, or key scientific concepts like gravity. Just as we would be lost in the world if we lived in ignorance that 2+2 equals 4 or that red lights mean STOP and not GO, or that apples fall earthward and not skyward, so would our language be incomprehensible to us without a core set of understandings about its commonly accepted patterns. Grammar is simply a general description of how we use our language to accurately communicate with one another. Those who oppose grammar oppose the language itself.

By: The Abbeville Manual of Style | Abbeville Press Blog » Blog Archive » Is Editing Necessary?

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:37:24 +0000

[...] are about to crash the gates; on the other side are self-styled freedom-lovers who believe (as in this brief article) that the real threat to English comes from snobs who shackle it with artificial rules. In a [...]

By: Obsessed with Grammar? – Advanced Essay Writing: Style and Styles in Prose

Obsessed with Grammar? – Advanced Essay Writing: Style and Styles in Prose — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:59:04 +0000

[...] http://flavorwire.com/10415/avoid-the-ap… [...]

By: Connie Tucker

Connie Tucker — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:06:32 +0000

I am delighted to find so many new books on grammar today. Having grown up with only a Harbrace College Handbook and Strunk & White, I find it almost heady that I can indulge my obsession in those current offerings. As one who compulsively returns to my e-mail messages to check that I've placed every comma correctly before sending, I must confess, my fear is that we are raising a generation of "texters" who obviously possess not one iota of literary responsibility or respect. All those acronymyns and phonetics render me heartsick. Alas, our challenge lies not in the present state but in the future of the written word. I am so glad I will be six feet under when English finally goes to hell in a handbasket.

By: Austin

Austin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:55:26 +0000

Most blogs are an editor's nightmare, but blogging itself need not be seen as synonymous with a loss of quality control. Plenty of blogs valiantly uphold the art of editing, whether explicitly or by example. We'd cite John McIntyre's "You Don't Say" in the former category and Dan Green's "The Reading Experience" in the latter, and we must also plug our own blog, "The Abbeville Manual of Style," written by a bunch of book editors (of the text-messaging generation, no less).