Grammer a Week 20: Why Do We Need Grammar? · 4:04am Apr 22nd, 2016
I get it; grammar is confusing. I mean, there's a reason why I make these blog posts on grammar—it's because I know it's confusing, I do research so I can be less confused, and I figured some of my readers could benefit from that research. But that brings to mind the operative question: why? Why do we care about something so trivial as where to place dots with little twiddles at the ends? The answer is, as many things are, complicated.
Meaning
At some base level, grammar is absolutely necessary because without it, meaning can be lost. This is by far the most important reason. Given that the goal of writing is to get your (the writer's) ideas into others' (the readers') heads, if something were to interfere with that, you would have failed in that endeavor. There are plenty of situations where poor grammar impedes meaning.
"Who are you?"
Dr. Stable made a motion to flip up his visor, but he stopped when he realized he wasn't wearing one—military hospitals weren't always stocked well. He put down his hoof and addressed the pony in front of him. "I'm a surgeon general," he said.
Oh, so Dr. Stable is the one who's been writing all those incessant messages on the side of cigarette packs! Or maybe someone just forgot to put commas in front of direct addresses. This is a situation where meaning is lost because the grammar in the sentence is poor.
Readability
Beyond the obvious rule of retaining meaning, a more subtle purpose of grammar is to enhance readability and prevent "double-takes."
The general nodded and walked away Dr. Stable, sighing, returned to his work.
It's not that this sentence is impossible to parse—but you probably read the words "Dr. Stable" twice, right? On first read-through, it may appear that the general was walking with Dr. Stable to some other location—until you realize that the rest of the sentence doesn't make sense, and you back up to figure out the sentence proper.
These situations, when they show up all the time in your writing, do just as much damage as obscuring meaning. They distract your reader from actually reading your story and divert their attention to trying to understand it. With enough of that, your readers will just give up trying to understand and will stop reading entirely (probably giving your story a downvote at the same time).
While there are times when you do (and should) spend time parsing difficult prose—case in point, Shakespeare, or more pony-related, Αλεκτρονα—those cases are in a different league and are difficult for a different reason. For Shakespeare, that's because period prose had different vernacular; for Αλεκτρονα, it's because darf was trying to emulate James Joyce stylistically.
Presentation
Let me pose a question: why do we, as a society, dress up for job interviews? There are a lot of answers to that question, but possible ones include because it makes a good first impression, because it shows prospective employers that we respect them enough to dress nicely, because it proves that we care for our appearance, because we want another avenue to impress them, etc. All those reasons are also good reasons to present good grammar in a story.
Truth be told dr Stable didn't really want to be working- but with the changlings on the attack with a much more competent leader heading it Equestria needs all the ponypower it can get for the cause, to stay home and laze about while the rest of Equestria gave their Lives to defend the motherland was incredibly un patriotic. A bloodcurduling cry of pain rented the silence from outside the tent, dr Stable put his head down and kept working.
Truth be told, Dr. Stable didn't really want to be working. But with the changelings on the attack with a much more competent leader heading them, Equestria needed all the ponypower it could get for the cause. To stay home and laze about while the rest of Equestria gave their lives to defend the motherland was incredibly unpatriotic.
A blood-curdling cry of pain rent the silence from outside the tent.
Dr. Stable put his head down and kept working.
These two examples are equivalent in meaning, but one appears like it's had ten years more schooling behind it. It's clear which one has had more time put into it, which one respects the reader more, which one cares more about how it presents itself, etc. And reading them, one might actually appear more interesting even though they both pretty much use the same words.
A diamond in the rough is still a rough diamond, and it can easily be glossed over in a sea of similar-looking gravel. Only with knowledge, effort, and adherence to some confusing rules can you really make it shine.
PS. I am aware that over-adherence to grammar rules is possible, and this can get annoying at times. People who do this are often referred to as Grammar Nazis. I am also completely aware that I am one of them. I'm okay with that. Grammar rules are, in fact, fluid, and if enough people do something "wrong" for long enough, it becomes the de facto standard and becomes "right." But until that happens, I'll continue to harp on obscure grammar rules and read up on them. Because if I'm annoyed, someone out there is probably annoyed, too.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please post them below. I'm always open to suggestions for future Grammer a Week posts.
I agree that grammar makes for ease of reading, and a greater chance to get the idea from your head to your reader's head.
I have been working with a UK writer and this has really expanded my experience in grammar. First is the English spelling for words, and second is the slang. I believe there is value in working with those outside the USA to help ensure the ideas transfer successfully.
Wherever I turn, people keep trying to tell me to read that! I'm not going to, though, as I just don't like James Joyce very much. Actually, I'm not a big fan of "difficult prose" all round, but that's partly sheer laziness; in Joyce's case, it goes beyond that. I've never even read Ulysses right through, and I may never do so, I'm not sure it's actually legal to say that on a writing site, though, so I'm off to hide before the Prose Police get here.
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I do agree that it's important to be aware of regional differences in English, but if you're posting stuff online, it's probably a good idea to avoid being too alienating with your prose in the first place.
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I read it only for the reason that I heard it was hard to read. And it is! Just about the most inaccessible story I've read on this site, actually. And I didn't really like it for exactly that reason—reminded me too much of high school English class.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to understand what you meant, because I unthinkingly assumed surgeon general was some kind of actual military/medical position.
3888466
I actually bought a copy of Ulysses when I was young because I was convinced you had to read - and like - Ulysses in order to consider yourself literary. I must have tried to read it through at least three times, each time failing utterly. To this date, I haven't managed to read it, and every time I try I get a little bit more annoyed that I spent money on something I'm just not enjoying at all, and a little bit more convinced it's just not for me. I haven't tried any other James Joyce books though, so I can't say if I don't like him, or just the style.
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Not that it's really relevant to this, but it is: Surgeon General in the US, but Surgeon-General in the UK. In both cases, though, there's only one at a time.