Hey, look what I found when I was clearing out my old files today -- it's an old grammar rant!
I think it was a response to a post from someone who was bitching about how picky some people are about grammar and how it's the story that's important, not the grammar. Don't remember if I ever posted it, but I think it bears posting here, just in case I didn't. *grin*
1) Yes, I agree that excruciatingly proper grammar can be annoying, especially when it's spoken. But I think that using proper grammar is more important in writing than in speaking because the written word doesn't include extras like body language, volume, and tone of voice to aid in the conveyance of information. We must use wise word choices and punctuation and other stylistic devices to convey our information, and if these aren't used consistently, how can we communicate accurately through writing?
2) I also agree that you must have a basic grasp of the language before you can misuse it to good effect. But like a car or a chainsaw, language is a tool -- you can know how it works without being able to label each and every part that makes it work. I've been an editor and I had to go look up the technical definition of what comprises a complete sentence last week -- it was a subject and a predicate. Do I know how to define predicate? No. Do I know what constitutes a complete sentence? Yes. You don't have to have a degree in English grammar and comp to know how to speak and write well.
3) The rule that a sentence should never end with a preposition, which often creates those silly stilted sentences that sound arrogant (like saying "That is of what I'm afraid" instead of "That's what I'm afraid of"), is not truly a rule at all. It apparently came about as a result of scholars trying to apply the grammatical rules of Latin to English, when English is, in fact, a Germanic language. Yes, a lot of high schools still teach this rule and if you get it wrong, you get it wrong. But in fiction writing, there's nothing wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition...UNLESS you're using a spare one, like "Where are you at?" The proper sentence is, "Where are you?" and the "at" is extraneous. If you can take the preposition out and the sentence still makes sense, you don't need it and shouldn't use it. UNLESS (don't you just hate that) you're using it in dialogue, where imprecise grammer is often more realistic and true to character.
4) Yes, the current trend in commas is "less is more," and leaving them out does speed up pacing, but this is another area where writers and editors must learn to exercise some judgment. If leaving out commas changes the meaning of your sentence or confuses the reader and makes them read the sentence twice to get what you're saying, then you've defeated the purpose of leaving it out. I can't think of a specific example right at the moment, but I'll try to get back here and post one.
5) My biggest pet peeve is run-on sentences, followed closely by the overuse of sentence fragments. I read WAY too many published books, mostly ebooks, that are littered with run-on sentences. The most common one I see is the joining of two complete sentences with a comma and no conjunction, and it drives me crazy. I think part of this might have to do with the various publishers' style requirements -- for instance, EC objects to the use of semi-colons and prefers to see authors use em dashes or some other method of connecting sentences, which is why I use dashes out the wazoo.
As for sentence fragments, yes, they're great -- when used to speed the pace in an action scene. But you can't use them in every paragraph! I read a book recently where the author used several sentence fragments in every paragraph, and the overall effect was that the book came off sounding melodramatic. You use a sentence fragment for effect, and if you use them constantly, they lose their punch and just start sounding silly.
In short (I know, too late for that), there are very few rules in grammar that can't be broken, but you must be deliberate in breaking them. You must have good reasons for breaking them, and you should break them sparingly or else your "style" will turn readers and editors off.
