F Off, Grammar Purists
Grammar purists have always nestled like alabama ticks in every dark corner of the internet. In the past year or so, they seem to be everywhere! These guys police statuses, tweets, threads and then call those out they feel are ‘unacceptable’. (Why anyone who doesn’t like colloquial speak online would follow a platform like B2W, I have no idea. Some people are their own worst enemy, yet point fingers at others as being ‘the problem’. Le sigh).
But this phenomenon is not only related to B2W. It seems internet-wide. It started with basic corrections of typos and spelling. Now apparently informal, colloquial speak on social media is considered WRONG by some writers *full stop*.
Well, you purists better have to time to DUCK … Let’s go!
1) Context is everything
Starting with the obvious. Writing on social media should not be subject to the same critique as a piece of screenwriting or prose. C’mon, this is basic. This is why I don’t accept complaints about typos, grammar or punctuation on the B2W social media. It’s also why I won’t allow ‘helpful’ corrections of other members’ comments in the Bang2writers Facebook page.
2) Understanding counts for something
Autocorrect is also thing, which can be good BUT also bad. Many people are writing on phones or tablets with touch-screens. Some creative minds have added learning needs. Others are on medication that screws with their ability to ‘see’ stuff like typos. Or maybe they have vampire fingerprints, like me. Shrug.
REPEAT AFTER ME: ‘if I know what is meant, then meaning is delivered‘.
3) Language usage is fluid
4) Purists’ mythical ‘standards’ are BS …
5) … And keep marginalised writers OUT
Concluding
Seriously, fuck being a grammar purist. It is blaming less-educated people for something that is not their fault.
Just as often though, it’s not even relevant. As writers we ought to know better. We should show more understanding of this complex issue. There’s enough rigid-thinking sticklers in the world.
So just do what you need to … Which is check over your writing as best you can, utilise the tools available and/or pay a proof reader if possible.
Oh, and don’t forget to tell those grammar purists to go fuck themselves.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Lastly, here’s some linkage To Help with number 1) on this list. Good luck out there.
3 Ways To ‘Reader-Proof’ Your Screenplay
Top 5 Proofing Mistakes Writers Make
Top 6 Tips For Editing Your Own Writing
7 Best Proofreading Tools For Writers
10 Useful Infographics To Help You Pick The Right Words
12 Quick Tips To Help You Improve Your Writing Right Now
Top 15 Pesky Grammar Rules Writers Can Ignore
How To Improve Your Grammar (Writers’ Cheat Sheet)
Watch Out For These Top 5 Writing Mistakes
From Visually.
Wow, that was a real rant. I get what you’re saying, but I don’t entirely agree. In informal writing, absolutely, but in extensive pieces, like novels and long articles, having to pause for a few seconds to work out what is meant when there is a typo or wrong word used can spoil your enjoyment If not your comprehension when it happens a lot.
Talking of comprehension, it literally says this in the article, at both the beginning and the end:
‘Yes, critique of actual writing submissions may include assessment of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Sometimes, this is justified. Sometimes it is not. It depends. Good readers should know how to differentiate.’
‘There’s also the point novels and non fiction generally need to be proofed and copy-edited. It’s just the way of things.’
Oh, I so love this article. As a dyslexic 50 something who has hidden it my entire teaching and writing career, it made me smile and punch the air. Thanks!!!
You are very welcome! Fuck those purists
I’ve been a professional writer for 35 years. Grammar has always been a source of frustration for me. I have learned it by ear but still could not take apart a sentence by parts of speech much more than a noun here and a verb there if you put a gun to my head. Big goddamn deal, I still paid the mortgage and won 45 writing awards, including a shared Pulitzer, along the way. So here is my answer to grammar Nazis everywhere: You think that identifying parts of speech is so important, and that pouncing on dangling participles makes you a superior human being? Well, Sir Paul McCartney cannot read notes. I don’t think that kept him from composing great music. So you can kiss my ass!
KISS IT indeed! Yay!
Loved the rant. I rather read a mistake-ridden novel that inspires than a grammatically perfect book that is a struggle to finish.
Omg, yes. I lovelovelove literary fiction but the flowery, indulgent stuff not so much
The only time I now indulge in correcting spelling and grammar is when I’m toying with unskilled trolls. It’s fun to employ the asterisk against them. I fully support your rant. We need more working class and poor writers to tell their stories. How lucky are we that they are determined to write despite not having all the advantages?
Oh yes, with trolls all bets are OFF. But too right – we ARE lucky
Writing is about communication. Writers need to ensure their language communicates what they wish to say, and words, grammar and punctuation are their tools. Tools, though, can be used in different and creative ways, but a carpenter still needs to know the difference between a screwdriver and chisel. Ambiguity and diverstiy are allowed, but not unwitting confusion.
For an elegant dismantling of grammer policing that extols what’s useful while filleting out what’s redundant, see Stephen Pinker’s The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing.
‘Unwitting’ is the key word there, for sure.
I have been away from B2W and the internet for too long. After reading this article, I smiled to myself as I see Lucy is still on the case. I personally salute people that attempt to write in English and it is not their first language, but they still manage to get their point across. Great article and I 100% agree with her.
BTW, it would be interesting seeing Lucy enter the world of politics some day.
I think I would end up in the Tower of London with the ravens for stepping over the sword line in the House of Commons too many times! haha
I’m a grammar purist but agree that social media should be exempt from purists’ corrections. Social media posts are like casual conversations: who wants to be corrected when chatting with friends?
But gawd help the writer who submits a script for input that’s riddled with inconsistent application of spelling or grammar. I don’t care if you’re “wrong” as long as you are consistent!
PS: Wow, Brits can fucking swear!
We fucking can!
Philip Gove, the controversial editor of Webster’s Third New International (Unabridged) Dictionary published in 1961, believed in certain precepts of linguistics. They are:
1. Language changes constantly.
2. Change is normal.
3. Spoken language is the language.
4. Correctness rests upon usage.
5. All usage is relative.
These concepts had been endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of English, Gove noted, “but they still come up against the attitude of several generations of American educators who have labored devotedly to teach that there is only one standard which is correct.”
The battles Gove fought after the release of Webster’s Third are the same battles raging today between those willing to allow change to occur and those who hold steadfast to the way it has always been done. Or at least, has been done since they were taught how it “must” be done.
My own research into the simple matter of how to spell words revealed that even Noah Webster himself put forth the “correct” spelling of certain words that never caught on to become the way we spell some words today and subsequent versions of his dictionary had these words changed back to the way they were commonly spelled instead of Webster’s “correct” way.
What it all boils down to is a matter of opinion.
You guys make me sick. Of course grammer and speling is important. You don’t know nothin’ about how to write good, I see that clear as any thing. Yous are all goin’ to writers hell.
As a teacher of screenwriting in a country where more than 50% of my students speak English as a second or third language – thank you!
Like all social interactions, aptness to the moment is what constitites the RIGHT and the WRONG – and your lovely, lively blog is a communal place of irreverence, wisdom and inspiration. Those who feel uncomfortable here should feel free to leave.
However …. although language is an ever-evolving creature, it is a means of communication. I try to teach that writers should do their best to use the tool of language to convey as conventionally as possible the meaning they intend. If they are writing in English, then the current conventions of Englsh are the way to go.
We live in the world of and-also NOT either-or. Today’s writers can use and enjoy colloquial languge AND ALSO write clear, conventional English that conveys its intention to most readers.
eNkosi, Lucy. Thank you!
I think that correcting sometimes is definitely okay- especially in works where English isn’t their first language. People who go overboard on being grammar nazis are annoying, but a small amount of correction is okay.
One of the worst posts in the otherwise fine history of this blog. One of the worst posts ever displayed on any blog ever.
File under “uppity”.
I’ve been holding back for months, from exploding all over it.
5…4…3…
LOL honestly? That’s the best feedback I could get as it proves my headline … especially your language choice ‘uppity’. Such a word is VERY revealing, since you appear to be going with the notion that ‘what you write = who you are’.