NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/writing/3959

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-21 | 4.5 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!mimsy!nocusuhs!yoshi
From: [e-mail] (D M Yoshikami)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Publishers of the wierd response to flames
Summary: Little Riding Hood's Grammar (sorry about that one :-)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 21 Dec 92 13:52:24 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Organization: National Naval Medical Center
Lines: 68

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>Thanks for your responses... :)
>I never claimed to be a good speler or gramar doer :)
>The mis-spellings were a result of the combined facts that the comp. center
>was closing, and that I basically can not spell.  Learning Disabinlity and
>all... at home I have a spell check and everyone's happy.
>As for gramar,it sickens me.  Writers, good writers, get away with very poor
>gramar.  In order to have propper gramar you have to be half insane, because
>the rules on gramar change twice a year.

Actually there is an easier way to pick up grammar: read good books, and lots
of 'em.  There is some value in studying grammar rules in a text book -- you
learn some formal guidelines for English; however, no matter how much they
try, there will always be unusual cases and exceptions which you can only know
when to ignore the guidelines once you've developed a writer's ear.  The
problem with the way grammar is taught is that it is easier to test to see if
the student has grasped grammar if you test by hard and fast rules.  This is
the same way mathematics is taught -- they teach you the rote symbolic
manipulation rather than seeing if you really understand what you're doing
(which can in some ways, be impossible to test).

Learning disabilities can make things quite difficult if not
impossible.  Although I don't have any severe disabilities, I have
found myself misreading sentences and scrambling numbers (which messes
me up sometimes on math tests).  Disabilities can be overcome -- and a
person who has the will and the desire to overcome them will overcome
them.  Severe cases may take some more serious measures.  Having a
learning disability does not necessarily mean you are stupid, many who
have learning disabilities are quite bright and talented, but have a
roadblock in a few spots which can be crippling.

If you're seriously going to be a writer who writes books, then it
would be rather strange if you don't like reading and don't like
spending time reading, and possibly collecting good books.  Monte
Nagler, one of Ansel Adams's students said to photographers: If you
like photography so much, you should spend some time looking at other
photographer's works and even collecting a few good photographs.

> One month you have to put coma's
>in between and and something no matter what, then... six months later you
>only have to do it if it's the final word in a string... then you only don't
>have to do it in those instances.  Gramar is meant to help the reader no
>when to put pauses... if a writer can do that without a coma then that, to me,
>is a wonderful thing.  The period, and the coma can be used as as much of a
>crutch as ALL CAPS or italics; and I have never come across a good use for
>those two things in anything... short of plays.

>Paragraphs... now that's a flame I agree with, and I apologize for my former
>posting's lack of paragraphs...  I tend to write like I would speak... problem
>is that I don't speak in a formal tone... and the only way I could think of to
>write that post was in... a formal tone... I guess I could've come up with a
>character that did speak in a essay form, and pretend he was posting to this
>group... but I like to be myself.  So... thank you for your replys, flames
>and otherwise and I hope to hear more of them :)  Take care guys...

Often writers try on many different "hats", as one of my teachers used to
say.  Some writers write as they speak, but a lot of writers do not write as
they speak.  My writing style and my speaking style differ greatly, i.e. among
other things, You won't see the word "Uhhh" much. :-)   Your writing style and
tone will change as you try on different hats.  This will depend on experience
and on the situation you're writing for.

DY :-)

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