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Possible Chaos In Wonderland

Nov 28, 2014
by Caroline Miller
good grammar or straight-jacketed style?, Gwynne's Grammar, Joseph Epstein, N. M. Gwynne, Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style
6 Comments

A blog reader sent me a news clipping from the October 14, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal. The article reviews two books where the authors take differing positions on the importance of grammar and style.  (“Book Review: ‘Gwynne’s Grammar’ N.M. Gwynne & ‘The Sense of Style, Steven Pinker” by Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal, 10/14/2014. Originally published electronically 9/26/14.)

 According to writer, Joseph Epstein, Gwynne’s Grammar takes a strict, authoritarian attitude toward grammar and writing.  In fact, Gwynne goes so far as to dictate the placement of multiple adjectives in a sentence.  Adjectives of opinion come before those of size.  Size comes before descriptions of age.  Age trumps origin, and if all this information is too much for our small brains, Gwynne provides an example.  “The book your are holding is therefore a nice little just-published oblong-shaped attractively colored much needed hardcover textbook.”

 Steven Pinker’s book on language and grammar takes a more relaxed view.  He suggests his readers think of grammar as “the original sharing app.” If it helps us understand, great.  If it doesn’t, grammar should get out of the way.   Gwynne’s adjective sequencing, I’m guessing, would give Pinker the shivers.  Above all, Pinker wishes to eliminate the stilted writing that comes when language is straight-jacketed by a surfeit of rules, the kind of entangling that makes academic writing so deadly.  “The curse of knowledge,” he writes, “is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose.”  Click here

Of course the worst application of good grammar is when it facilitates bad conduct  — the superior, smug “gotcha” mentality of those who flaunt a rather dubious superiority.  As for style and meaning, I prefer the advice the March Hare gave to Alice in Wonderland.  It’s best to say what you mean and mean what you say, the sequence of adjectives being irrelevant.  There are times when correct grammar is crucial, of course, but not many.   Would the world fall apart, for example, if Tweedle Dum greeted his brother with an, “It’s me,” and  Tweedle Dee replied, “Oh good.  It’s I, too”? 

 I think not.  But that’s me.  Or is it ‘that’s I”? 

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Courtesy of www.flickr.com

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6 Comments
  1. Bill Whitlatch November 28, 2014 at 9:03 am Reply
    Thank you for that last paragraph !
    • Caroline Miller November 28, 2014 at 9:12 am Reply
      Me and the Tweedle brothers thank you. Or is that I and the Tweedle brothers?
  2. Christine Webb November 28, 2014 at 10:31 am Reply
    Me, myself and I are sitting here this first morning after Thanksgiving eating a most delicious piece of apple pie for breakfast, wondering how I can correctly describe how yummy it truly is. Let's see. At my side, sits the most scrumptious and more than likely, way too large day old piece of filled to the brim apple pie which graced our Thanksgiving dinner table, yesterday. It is even tastier this morning. I thank you for this very fun and informative blog on this perfect, wet, gray, blustery morning, which, is the most lovely kind of morning for curling up on the couch, contemplating all sorts of things, even colorful adjectives of all shapes and sizes that never cease to stir the imagination. Thank you, Caroline. Now, back to my pie... :)
    • Caroline Miller November 28, 2014 at 10:43 am Reply
      What an apt scholar you are to get all those adjectives in the correct order. I am in awe of you and your apple pie.
  3. tuna cole November 28, 2014 at 11:40 pm Reply
    Grammar (syntax), along with semantics, the commonly agreed upon meaning of the words we use, are the very crux of communication. Language, at it's best, is only an approximation of the speaker's intent. It doesn't do us any credit to make fun of the distinctions between subject and object pronouns, for example, as if they didn't matter. Does "meaning" matter? Furthermore, those "language police," those linguists in the Ivory Tower describe language features/ grammar, not proscribe it.
    • Caroline Miller November 29, 2014 at 8:43 am Reply
      Then I can only hope you will find a copy of Gwynnes Grammar nicely tucked into your Christmas stocking.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published five novels

  • Getting Lost To Find Home
  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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