The Myth of Rules
Posted on | April 23, 2010 | 6 Comments
I often talk about writer’s myths, things people think of as writing rules that often just get in the way of good writing. Are their any rules for writing that the writer should be aware of? Certainly. One such rule is, “don’t use sentence fragments”. An example of a sentence fragment, for those who missed the inherent irony, is “Certainly.”
Proper use of grammar is important. Knowing when to use “he” and when to use “him”, for instance: Is it “I went to the store with he and Irene” or “I went to the store with him and Phyllis.” In this case, the easiest way to know which to use is to cut the “and” phrase from the sentence and see which one works. “I went to the store with he” is obviously wrong, so the second example is the correct one. (Unless you actually went to the store with her and Gregory, in which case the sale meat you purchased is probably tainted.)
However, there are times when you might do exactly that for effect. (A subtle effect, to be sure, as most in America would probably miss it.) One way to break it is in dialogue where, depending on the character talking, most grammar rules can simply be thrown out the window. Real people, when they talk, often don’t know and therefore don’t use, proper grammar. To make the dialogue true to the character, write as he or she would talk. (Him or her? No. He or she.)
You’ve heard not to start a sentence with “and” or “but”. Many great writers do. You’ve heard that you shouldn’t split an infinitive (put any word between “to” and the verb.) That rule only came into existence at the beginning of the 19th century because some priggish professors wanted English to sound more like Latin, which it never will, so to simply ignore that rule is to boldly go where good writers have gone before.
Knowing the rules of proper grammar is important and every writer should strive to learn them, if only because you can then you can break them much more effectively.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of the how-to guide On Writing a Short Story.
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April 23rd, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
Ahoy Geoff.
I like this article. We Pirates don’t like rules. Arrr.
And, as you state, the more you understand the rules the more fun it is to break them.
Rob
April 23rd, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
Even though I know the rules and feel my English teachers breathing down my back, I learned to throw all that out the window in writing for the public on the net. That was taught to me by Dr. Joe Vitale himself
.-= Martha Giffen´s last blog ..One Hit Wonders =-.
April 23rd, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
Captain, Rules are for sissies!
Martha – yup! You write to communicate, not to follow rules.
April 23rd, 2010 @ 11:03 pm
Ahh … a stroll back in time to seventh grade grammar class. I only wish you would have reviewed how to diagram a sentence. Boy, was that fun!
All kidding aside, Geoff, you’ve managed to touch a writing nerve here. I’ve always had a genuine love of language arts and it was because of my seventh grade grammar teacher. She had a way of drumming the rules into you as if they were a matter of life and death.
I find the toughest challenge for me as an online marketer and blogger is letting go of what was once engraved in granite and made all the difference between a “B” paper and an “A+”.
I fight it all the time so thanks for giving me permission to relax and have some fun on the grammar playground.
Melanie
.-= Melanie Kissell´s last blog ..Tweeps and Twitters and Peeps, Oh My! =-.
April 24th, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
Melanie, I imagine you have a much stronger grasp on the rules of grammar than most. I would imagine, then, that your playing with them and breaking of them could be far more powerful than what most would produce!
And I loved diagramming sentences, also, but mostly because the diagrams themselves seemed to me to be a picture and seemed to be telling a compelling story.
April 28th, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
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