As a writer, grammar errors are the bane of my existence. Perfection (or as close to it as I can get) is what I strive for when writing: I struggle with every little word and reread my work at least twice over, once aloud to make sure that it sounds right. I own a writing manual and have consulted it multiple times.
My obsessiveness gets worse, because it is not only my work that needs to be perfect; everything else I read must be perfect.
While reading the work of someone else, I will notice the errors and lumber over it before reading the rest of the piece. I need to fix those errors. Please split up that run-on sentence. You need a comma there, there, there and there. It’s “your”, not “you’re”.
Amongst friends, I selfishly think of myself as some kind of grammar police. I have interrupted conversations to tell someone that it is “has eaten”, not “has ate”. I die a little inside whenever a friend asks someone else to proofread his/her paper (even if I would have said “no” if asked).
I probably sound like the most annoying person to talk or text to, don’t I?
Mind you, I’m always never perfect. Commas are forgotten, “it’s” and “its” is still a struggle, and my selfishness blurs the fact that I’m wrong about some rule when I think I’m right.
And yes, I have mixed up “your” and “you’re”.
However, does writing always need to be this error free block of text with sentence structure so perfect that an angel could have scribed it?
Of course not. Often writers break the rules to bring strange but intriguing ideas and stories. I try to break the rules sometimes: I’ve stopped using the Oxford comma in my writing (the comma before the “and” in the last subject in a list) against the wishes of Microsoft Word, I use too many conjunctions when I should be using a comma instead, and inverted sentences are fun.
There is beauty and meaning in the rebellion against sound structure. Take poetry and its mind-boggling sentence structure, commas everywhere, and ambiguity in subject, for example.
I guess that’s why I don’t like poetry.
Though, it pains me when I read something rife with grammatical errors, especially in a piece from a college student. I could solely blame the writer, but having gone through the pre-collegiate education system, there can obviously another factor.
I barely remember grammar lessons from grade school. I can’t tell you what a gerund or a prepositional phrase is, among others. High school English was mainly focused on reading, discussion and essay writing; most grammar lessons came from the seeing the red marks on a returned essay, but did we actually learn from those marks?
My own selfishness can’t hide the fact that I’m actually very unfamiliar with grammar.
Education tends to shoehorn the five-paragraph essay structure as being good enough, but where is the focus on the process of writing? What is good sentence structure, and in what ways can we break that structure while still making an acceptable sentence? What good is an essay if it reads like crap? I can write five paragraphs, but can I actually write it?
Sound grammar is especially important at the college level; good writing leads to good grades (especially at this level of education that’s chock full of essays) and professional opportunities for students. But what about that student who didn’t have anyone to tell him where to put commas? What about the student who wasn’t told that her sentences are incomplete? Yes, there are services to help people write better essays, but why only now are they learning what they’re doing wrong? And if there is nobody to tell them that they’re wrong, they how will they ever realize it?
There are too many essays and not enough focus on grammar.
Good grammar is easily overlooked and underappreciated. There should be greater emphasis on how to be grammatically correct and how to invert the system while still being acceptable, because a little good grammar can determine life chances.
