In a story this week, Jen, one of my editors pointed out an interesting typo.
I wrote (didn’t copy-paste) “her health unsurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield…”. Health unsured. So many Americans are there, and have been for years: really unsure about their insurance. Will it cover us if we have a big problem? So often, the answer is no, which is why big medical bills is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, even among the insured. Or, as the case may be, the unsured.
In another story, Jen told me that technically, the rule is that there should be commas in “there was one tiny little problem” (in a story about a jetliner trying to take off, yet not on the runway). The rule is if the words are “coordinate adjectives” (or “equal in meaning”), they should be commatized. (OK, the rule didn’t really verbinate that word, but stay with me.) “It’s not always easy to tell when adjectives are coordinate,” her rulebook says, but there are tests to determine that, such as would it work when swapping the words (“there was one little tiny problem”)?
To me, that just points out how subjective such rules are. Sometimes, I believe they’re simply wrong, and more writers are ignoring some, such as never to split an infinitive (thanks, Star Trek, for flouting that rule in such a public way!), or end a sentence in a preposition.
For me, I ignored the rule for one simple reason: as the writer, I want to help set the pacing while you read. I don’t want Shatnerian pacing in my stories; “there was, one, tiny, little, problem” could work, if you want Capt. Kirk narrating, but yes: I pay attention to little things like that, and I believe that’s one reason so many of you mention my writing. (Example from today: “I have appreciated your writing over the years,” said Diana, a college professor in a renewal today. “Now more than ever, I want to support intelligent people who contribute to the critical dialogue.”)
I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it: I hear the words in my head as I write, and I also hear the punctuation. I do intuitively understand the difference in the flow of this phrase, compared to …the, flow, of this one, in your reading. The resulting pacings are very subtle, but I think helps add to how True reads. And to ensure what is actually written corresponds to the way I want it to be read, I do the extra step of reading the stories aloud to Kit and adjust as necessary.
N.B.: I googled (←verbified!) “health unsurance” and found it’s a common typo …even in the industry. Amazing.
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THANK YOU for doing it your way. Too often people follow “weird” rules about writing & most of the time they have no idea *why* the rule exists. Reading them to Kit & adjusting accordingly undoubtedly improves them.
When writing something that is formal, be concerned about punctuation. Your newsletter is not really formal. If you worry about punctuation, you lose the flavor of what you are saying. Be yourself: You are amongst friends.
-rc
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I do like to be sure everything is spelled correctly, and with good grammar. I do appreciate that Jen points out the small stuff, and I think she’s getting used to me saying no to some of the suggested changes.
Quite of number of these “rules” were made up by 18th century grammarians who felt that English needed to be more like Latin, which was considered the “perfect” language (even though Shakespeare himself did not follow any of those rules). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with splitting infinitives (an impossibility in Latin) or ending sentences with prepositions. A number of weird spellings in English come from this nonsense as well. “Doubt” did not originally have a “b” but because it was derived from the Latin “dubitum” or some such thing, a “b” was forced in. Totally ridiculous.
In “tiny little problem”, “tiny” and “little” are not separate qualities of the problem; “tiny” is an intensifier for “little”. It has the same job as “very”, which would not have a comma.
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See what I mean? It’s all very subjective. -rc
Eeeehh, is it subjective if there’s a logical, functional reason underlying the decision? I occasionally balk at something I hear (or read, as I hear what I read), if it jars my expectations, which are based upon rules. Sometimes I learn a new rule, and sometimes there’s a real problem.
Now that I can’t remember anything from day to day, rules are all I have.
Keep doing what you do. Aside from the interesting and thought provoking nature of the content of your writing, the natural flow of the language you employ is one of the reasons I still read your stories after all these years of subscribing.
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And I so appreciate your continued support. -rc
When writing and adhering strictly to the rules of formal grammar, one hobbles the English language, making it difficult for anyone but a lawyer to read and stay awake. Everyone should learn the rules of formal grammar — so they know when and how to break them in the interest of readability.
I believe the best advice I ever got is, “write like you talk.” I believe that is what you attempt. Keep doing as you do, it seems to have worked well for quite a while.