Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Grammar

Want an ego booster, er, ah, ego buster? I selected one of my favorite pieces of writing and had it processed on-line by "Grammarly." Now please understand that I am fond of this story, that I thought I had done a superb job of conveying the tale in an interesting, nay, even exciting way. I will not tell you the results of this debacle, but 44 "problems" in six paragraphs?* That is unsettling. No. That is not it. What it is is it took me back to my fourteen-year-old self sitting in Miss Long's English class where she hands back the paper riddled with red ink, smeared beyond all recognition by her snide commentary.



Well, I'm not fourteen anymore, and perhaps I should have paid more attention in subsequent English classes, but that is, to be trite, water over the dam. And I'm not going to take it anymore. I shall continue to write for my own amusement. So long as I think I have adequately expressed my point (if I have one) I shall be pleased with myself.



And besides, why would I believe something (noun) which names itself an adverb? Pfffft, and nanner, nanner, nanner.


buckle under.



*I got 100% on spelling, though!

8 comments:

Vee said...

Proper in writing a disseration, maybe, But wouldn't an essay be terrible reading if it were written "properly." Try running a well-known essay through one of those checking systems.

When I taught I used all different colors of pens for grading. I never liked having some teacher bleed all over one of my papers, so any marks I made were purple, green, turquoise (or other) and I always put detailed explanations for the markings. Sometimes that gave the students ammunition for argument.

Andrea said...

Prayer request at arise 2 write.
andrea

Anonymous said...

Nowadays I tend to write the way I tawk - and that will never pass a grammar test!

Anonymous said...

Trying to learn to right properly helped me learn eye wasn't all ways write in the way eye communicated



Bob

Sharkbytes said...

Shucks- sometimes exact grammar is important, sometimes not. And there are different stylesheets.

vanilla said...

Vee, actually trying to help the students? Cool. I shall write for my own satisfaction. At least I can spell!

Andrea, have put it on the list.


Grace, there is nothing wrong with a "conversational tone" in writing. Or so I hope, for I do the same.

Shark, it is true that one adapts style to the specific audience. Since I am my audience, I shall do as I please.

Secondary Roads said...

Never ask a literary critic to review you writing. It's a corollary of the fundamental law: Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. :)

vanilla said...

Chuck, too right you are!