TnT: incorrect grammar

[pipisafoat]

contest 33 is open until Monday at 10 pm GMT/6 pm EST.

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I know that it is a stylistic choice to have a character speak with incorrect grammar. I know that it is a stylistic choice to have a narrator with incorrect grammar. I have even written both of those in the past and will probably do so again in the future! However, I can't help it: I hate reading something with glaringly bad grammar. Even if I know it's done on purpose, I can't force myself to sit there and wade through it. Even if I know for a fact that the author is a person who has impeccable grammar. Even if you held me at gunpoint with a check for a million dollars waving in my face. (Okay, maybe not then.) And yet, I'll still write things with bad grammar to prove a point or more accurately represent the character(s). However, there are people who won't do it even then.

Incorrect grammar: strength in style or just showing your idiocy?

Comments

[erika]

I literally could not make it through Chapter 1 of the Sound and the Fury because of the lack of punctuation. Unfortunately, as I was reading it for school, I just had a friend tell me what happened.

I think she was a bit miffed when I ended up with a higher score on the reading quiz than her!

[ar]

I hesitate to refer to bad grammar as "idiocy," especially when talking about how a character talks or thinks or narrates. There are a lot of ways to be smart , and as someone who comes from a place where it's not uncommon to hear phrases like "your hair needs brushed," it sets my teeth on edge to see "good" English grammar held up as a virtue and "bad" English grammar treated as an embarrassing vice. I've met too many people who talk about people with bad grammar as though they're absolute dumbfucks--"why can't they figure rule X, it's a simple rule, seriously"--and it never fails to piss me off. I think people who think they're better than friends and family of mine--and than me, to an extent--because they use words or syntax that're looked down upon are assholes and have no idea how many smart people they're dismissing.

It's something of a touchy subject for me, sorry. Anyway.

In general, my recommendation is that people do what suits a story or character. If the character would use grammar that isn't standard, they should. If they're narrating the story, then the narration ought to reflect the way they speak. If it sounds natural for the character, then it's successful, and that's what matters to me.

[spaceoperadiva]

In general, my recommendation is that people do what suits a story or character. If the character would use grammar that isn't standard, they should. If they're narrating the story, then the narration ought to reflect the way they speak. If it sounds natural for the character, then it's successful, and that's what matters to me.

I agree. I really dislike it when people sacrifice characterization to grammar rules. It can make the characters sound stilted and artificial, especially in dialog. The grammar has to make sense for the character.

[mercredigirl]

I strongly agree with this! Especially as a lot of non-Anglo Englishes are strictly self-policed in addition to needing external/white 'validation'. I'd sooner preserve the authenticity of our spoken creole over grammar conformity.

[msmcknittington]

DITTO A MILLION TIMES.

If I could somehow manage to insert this into the heads of "progressives" in the US today, I would . . . I don't know. Say "ain't" and "liberry" and "wantsta" holy lots in my nasal, twangy Midwestern voice and give the eyebrow to people who talk about "dumb hicks" in "flyover country". (I would also apparently use lots of sarcastic quotes.)

Except I was in speech therapy when I was little, so I don't actually talk like that. I talk fancy. :( But I get the sentiment! Hicks united.

(Oh, hey. Are you from Wisconsin, too? I poked through your profile, because I wondered.)

[milkbar]

I try to use grammatically correct English when I write and seriously, I'm a prick about those kind of stuff, but it's mostly because English is not my first language, bugt it is the language I write most of my stuff on, and I don't want to either be misunderstood or use bad grammar badly. I don't think I know English enough to purposely, stylistically use bad grammar and still have what I meant understood; Plus, misusing grammar usually involves trying to convey an accent or dialect, and I don't know much about either of them. I try, but I don't think I do it right.