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Vs.

© 2015 Karen L. Thompson Department of English University of Idaho

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• Prose style is about the words you choose and how you arrange these words.

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• Grammar is about language rules.*

*Strictly speaking, grammar names the entire system of language, but for our purposes, let’s just say it’s about rules.

There are Three Kinds of Grammar Rules

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1. Real Rules2. Social Rules3. Invented Rules

Adapted from:Joseph Williams’ StyleIt’s a great book, I recommend it.

Real Rules

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• These are the rules that define English as English.

• Speakers born into English do not think about these rules and violate them only when they are not paying attention (i.e. tired or distracted).

• Example of real rules:

– Mary and John sat by the lake.Not – in the lake or on the lake.

– She enjoyed the book.Not: She enjoyed book the.

Social Rules

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• Social rules distinguish standard English from nonstandard.

• None of us speak standard English. Not even English teachers ).

• Educated people, however, write standard English and observe social rules when and where appropriate.

Social Rules: Examples

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Standard Written English:• We saw the accident. • He had no money.

Many English speakers violate social rules of written standard English. These are not grammar errors because the speakers use a different set of social rules consistently.

• We seen the accident.• He ain’t got no money.

Invented Rules

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• Invented rules are those rules that we think we should observe. These are rules we are taught in school.

• But…as Joseph Williams points out in Style, most of these rules date from the last half of the 18th century, and many of them are not worth stressing about.

 • Robert Lowth (1710 – 787) wrote one of the most influential

textbooks of English grammar. Lowth and other authors helped standardizedEnglish. Language, however, is dynamic and to view rules as static is a problem Lowth did not understand, but hey, don’t be too hard on him. He meant well.

Yes, I did, and I worked very hard.

Example of an Invented Rule

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• Never split an infinitive (an infinitive is the “to form of a verb”--- to run, to play, etc).

• The writers of television series Star Trek broke this rule.

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To boldly go where no man has gone before!

Wrong! The correct wording is “to go boldly”

sonny!

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Honestly, grammar lady who on earth would prefer that syntax? And, hey isn’t that Karen’s 8th grade English teacher?

Star Trek’s writers broke this rule because it just sounded better.

Let’s vaporize grammar lady.

It’s not logical, but we can spare her for now.

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Invented Rules You Can Safely Ignore

• Never– Start a sentence with and or but– Start a sentence with because– Start a sentence with a preposition – Use a contraction

– These are style choices. And it’s perfectly fine to start a sentence with and, but, or because and to use a contraction. But, if you start most of your sentences with and or but your writing will lack sentence variation.

Starting a sentence with because can place the stress emphasis (what readers look for to understand your point) in the wrong place – refer to stress emphasis lecture for more information.

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Invented Rules You Can Safely Ignore

Never use the word I in an academic paper or report.Never use like for as or as if.Never use irregardless for regardless or irrespective.

Don’t use hopefully to mean I hope.Don’t use finalize to mean finish or complete.Don’t use impact as a verb.Don’t modify absolute words such as perfect, unique, or complete with very, more, quite, etc.

User fewer with nouns you count, less with nouns you cannot.Use since and while to refer only to time, not to mean because or although.

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Here’s the Take-Away

As Williams says, If writers we judge to be competent regularly violate some alleged rule, then the rule has no force. In those cases, it is not writers who should change their usage, but gammarians who should change the rules.

When you are under close scrutiny, you might choose to observe these optional rules.

Ordinarily though, they are ignored by most careful writers, which is to say they are not rules at all, but style choices that create a slightly formal tone.

Also, invented rules can change.

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•  In the 20th century, the official gate keepers of English those who produce the Oxford English dictionary, and who should never be sneered at, made it official that splitting infinitives was okay.

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Make a Decision

• Some die-hard members of the grammar police, however, still hold onto this rule and find pleasure in trying to enforce it. When you meet one of these people, and they have power over you, make a decision about whether you will fight grammatical injustice or cave to power ).

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Punctuation Matters

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Million Dollar Comma

• In 2006, a contract dispute between Rogers Communication of Toronto, Canada’s largest cable television provider, and a telephone company in Atlantic Canada, Bell Aliant, turned was over the phone company’s attempt to cancel a contract governing Rogers’ use of telephone poles.

• The argument turned on a single comma in a 14-page contract. The answer was worth 1 million Canadian dollars ($888,000).

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The dispute was over this sentence.

• “This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party.”

Aliant argued that because the second comma was setting off a restrictive clause (one that does not change the meaning if removed), the one year prior notice applied to both five year terms – not just a second one.

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Rogers countered and the grammar police then got into it.

• The other side, Rogers Communications, countered that like it or not, Aliant was stuck with at least five years of pole-stringing duty.

• In court, each side hired English experts to testify on their behalf. Naturally, the experts did not agree with one another.

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In the end,

• An appellate court resolved the dispute by relying on the French version of the contract and found for Rogers, so Aliant was stuck with the two five year terms of the contract.

Not all errors are equal, so be certain to learn how to correct those errors that readers notice or that cause confusion.

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Errors that readers notice and these reflect poorly on writer:• Run on sentences and fragments • Incorrect use of its/it’s and there/their/they’re• Typos and Spelling Errors

Errors that cause confusion in readers:• Missing comma for an introductory element• Ambiguous pronoun reference.• Faulty parallelism

Errors that few readers notice:• Different from vs. Different than• Using a contraction• Split infinitive (which as we just learned is not an error

but some people will just not give it up)

see your textbook for more information