As much as I love writing, reading, and English in general, it’s weird to me that I never really gave much attention to subject—verb—object agreement. I knew what it was and I knew in general how to locate each, but I never really thought about it and how it worked—like what would happen if you removed one or switched them around. I’ve never taken the time out to actually check if a sentence is complete or not in someone’s writing. If it sounds odd, I can generally pick out what needs to be fixed, but never really focused on the why.
As one who enjoys creative writing (both the reading of novels and the writing), I’ve always figured that “errors” were intentional. Like using a single word sentence to add emphasis—incorrect grammatically, but creatively it works. However, if that single word sentence had been used in a report or a research paper, I probably would have freaked out. Seriously. I suppose examples like this are why we’re not allowed to use creative writing pieces in class—because creative writing seems to have its own set of rules.
But I did not know about the different kinds of verbs. I had no idea that there were transitive and intransitive verbs. Granted, I’ve used them all my life, but I never stopped to consider how sometimes a verb did not have an object/noun attached to it or whether that was right or wrong. If it sounded odd, then I would mentally fix it in my head (unless it was me checking someone’s work). I guess it’s like Barbara said, we’ve used most of these rules in our own writing, now we’re just naming what we use.
It still surprises me how the rules I thought were “rules,” really weren’t rules at all. Rather, they were someone’s interpretation of a grammar gray area. BUT even if the rules are not rules, there are still times when it is appropriate and times when it is not.
As a creative writer, I break the rules intentionally at times—though I honestly could not tell you when, since I just put what feels and sounds right. BUT even when I break them, I do it with intention and a purpose. For example, I use short choppy sentences to confuse readers (so they feel the confusion of the person they are reading about) and to add a tense feeling of suspense; I also use one word sentences to emphasize a point or to add to the drama of the situation. It’s so cool to me how grammar can change the mood, meaning, and feel of a story!
Question: Are there ever times in academic and/or professional writing when it would be appropriate to break the rules of grammar (I’m not talking gray areas)?
It is hard to consider "breaking the rules" after we have been taught, for most of our academic careers, that these rules are supposed to be followed. BUT what if they were just more like guidelines (anyone seen Pirates if the Caribbean?). I think there are times when you can break the rules. The most obvious is when you are trying to prove a point. Like you said you can make the one word sentences. It may be harder to do it in professional writing, but I think it can be done. Grammar is changing, although this is the first time I have realized that, so what used to be a "rule" before may not even be considered now. This is where "breaking the rules" of grammar is appropriate because grammar in itself has changed.
ReplyDeletegood answer, Nikki.
ReplyDeleteI'd say, Serenity, that academic papers probably aren't the place to experiment with breaking the rules on purpose... although we'll see that we write much better academic papers with more sentence variety. Also, remember there are lots of other contexts where we can and do break the rules: for example, email or even a newspaper opinion column.