By Janet Kobobel Grant
I’ve been editing in one capacity or another all of my adult life. Why, I just finished editing my grandson’s résumé for his first job out of college. And I’ve edited all sorts of work-related documents, from brochures to books. I’ve seen so many manuscripts and proposals that I pretty much can list the top errors committed by earnest writers. Despite being a bit of a grammar nerd, I’ve found there’s always more to learn. Hence today, how about tidying up your grammar with me?
The inspiration for tidying up my grammar
I was inspired to write this blog when Michelle Ule presented me with a gift that had no special occasion tied to it: Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. His august position is that of copy chief of Random House, which means he oversees all those editors who nitpick manuscripts. And he rose to those ranks by starting on the bottom rung of nitpickers.
Michelle assured me I could spend many a gleeful hour poring over this volume, as had tens of thousands of others who bought so many copies the book made the New York Times best-seller list. I opened the book with expectation and gusto. I couldn’t image anything more delightful than to read about grammar and guffaw while doing so.
The volume didn’t disappoint.
So much more than a grammar book
Dreyer’s book doesn’t just explain the in’s and out’s of grammar but also aspires to help the reader think about writing as a living and breathing entity that deserves respect and an eye toward what this piece of writing needs to elucidate and elevate it.
The guy had me at the first paragraph:
I am a copy editor. After a piece of writing has been, likely through numerous drafts, developed and revised by the writer and by the person I tend to call the editor editor and deemed essentially finished and complete, my job is to lay my hands on that piece of writing and make it…better. Cleaner. Clearer. More efficient. Not to rewrite it, not to bully and flatten it into some notion of Correct Prose, whatever that might be, but to burnish and polish it and make it the best possible version of itself that it can be–to make it read even more like itself than it did when I got to work on it. That is, if I’ve done my job correctly.”
We’ve all had our work bullied and flattened until it looks like a steamroller did a number on it. This has never been editing. It’s crushing–to the writing and to the writer.
Because of Dreyer’s belief that his job is to make the writing more like its true self, he insists that rules be obeyed when they serve the writing, not the other way around. He thus murders several grammar and style darlings in the name of common sense.
Some rules are inviolate
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have standards that must be met. He mentions that if you apply for a copy editing position by sending him your résumé barren of accent marks, he will not even deign to look at your application. If your résumé only bears the last accent mark, he construes that you live in the Dakotas or some other far distant land.
About that guffawing while reading grammar rules…
Dreyer’s dry wit (see my play on words there?) is showcased throughout the book. If you aren’t prepared to have him make fun of a piece of grammar you’ve held dear for decades, you won’t enjoy how he insists we lighten up a bit.
Take, for example, his explanation of when to use–or refrain from using–[sic] when quoting material that contains errors in it.
As, for instance and strictly speaking, you might do here, in quoting this piece of text I 100 percent made up out of thin air and didn’t find on, say, Twitter:
“Their [sic] was no Collusion [sic] and there was no Obstruction [sic].”
Dreyer suggests: “Do not–not as in never–us [sic] as a snide bludgeon to suggest that something you’re quoting is dopey. By which I mean the very meaning of the words, not merely their spelling.”
Tidying up your grammar–and punctuation
“Do as I do” Dreyer seems to say to the reader over and over, as he explains a rule of punctuation or grammar by, in that very paragraph of explanation, showcasing what he means:
Colons are not merely introductory but presentational. They say: Here comes something! Think of colons as little trumpet blasts, attention-getting and ear-catching. Also loud. So don’t use so many of them that you give your reader a headache.”
Be prepared to disagree
If you read that last quote and paused over this sentence: “Colons are not merely introductory but presentational,” please join me as I cross my arms and frown. I’m a diehard believer that when you write “not only” or “not merely” that phrase must be paired with “but also.” Not “but” by itself.
Dreyer insists the “also” is extraneous and thus to be done away with.
No! Not the sacred “but also”!
The pièce de résistance
If my praise isn’t adequate to convince you to dip your toe into the water, perhaps this bit of exuberance with do the trick:
Farewell, Strunk and White. Benjamin Dreyer’s brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry was to medieval English: a gift that broadens and deepens the art and the science of literature by illustrating that convention should not stand in the way of creativity, so long as that creativity is expressed with clarity and with conviction.”—Jon Meacham“
A disclaimer about the dangers of writing about tidying up your grammar
If you found any errors–whether in grammar or punctuation–please take that as all the more reason I need to read Dreyer’s English.
P. S. Michelle tells me he’s a hoot to follow on Twitter. Going there now to follow this fellow…
What grammar rules do you hold inviolate? What grammar or punctuation rule regularly trips you up?
TWEETABLES
Grammar nerds: You must read Dreyer’s English! Here’s an introduction to the volume. Click to tweet.
Grammar and punctuation rules sometimes need to be broken. Read more about Dreyer’s English in this new blog post. Click to tweet.
Labor day facts
The real role of English grammar
is to be the motor of your story,
dependable, when you drop the hammer
to speed you from defeat to glory.
We seldom look beneath the bonnet
for truly, there should be no need;
it’s the engineers who work upon it,
to coax from pistons a bit more speed.
The reader is the driver, here,
to take the ride that you’ve prepared,
and you, the writer, engineer;
the speed you offer shows you cared
to learn the craft of feeler gauges
and proper words on graceful pages.
I love this, Andrew! So appropriate!
Thanks, Jeanne!
I think instead of “Michelle assured me I could spend many a gleeful hour pouring over this volume,” you actually mean “Michelle assured me I could spend many a gleeful hour **poring** over this volume…” Otherwise the book would have been covered in a liquid! See https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pore
Argh! You’re so right. I knew I was setting myself up to make an error as soon as I decided to write about grammar, punctuation, and clarity. Thank you for correcting me. I’m scampering off to correct my mistake.
“Because of Dreyer’s belief that his job is to make the writing more like its true self, he insists that rules be obeyed when they serve the writing, not the other way around.” Love this. As an editor myself, I need this book in my library. Thanks!
Yes, you do need it. I love his approach to editing and want every editor among us to at least read his intro and ponder what that means for how we all think about editing.
Perhaps not an inviolate rule, but it does elicit a cringe from me when I see sentences end in a prepositional phrase.
Where to you come from?
From where do you hail?
And I cringe when a writer composes a tortured sentence to avoid ending it in a preposition. This rules exists because some grammarians decided to institute it based on the origin of the word “preposition.” Which in Latin means “come before” so they chose to arbitrarily conclude a preposition must come before another word, and never at the very end of a sentence. So they applied a Latin meaning to English sentence structure. What a construct! That’s when I ended all interest in this rule. But Dreyer would say, “You have your bugaboos; I have mine. Let us live in peace.”
Damon, shouldn’t that be “Whence did you hail?” or “From whence did you hail?” Or maybe “Where’d y’all come from?” (assuming 2 or more in the party)
I worked hard to break my formal writing habit of never ending with a preposition when I switched from writing nonfiction to fiction.
I am what many refer to as a Grammar Nazi – blame it on years of teachers blasting the rules into my psyche (and my mother, a former teacher, who checked my homework). Even now, decades after elementary school, I find myself noticing when something isn’t “right”. I may not know exactly what’s wrong – but I notice it. Worse yet, I’ll look it up! And, OMG, the angst when I realize that the “correct way” makes what I wanted to say seem stilted or unnatural or confusing. Add more words, rephrase, correct it! Argh. So I like Mr Dreyer’s philosophy – be correct but more importantly, be clear. I guess because, after all, that’s what the reader wants in the end.
So happy to learn about this book, and love your post too. Editing well and writing well don’t always equate, but editing well certainly makes good writing better!
“Thanks, Janet, for the fun review,” she says, while mentally editing it and and the comments that followed.
I’ll just be honest and say this…I used to think I knew a lot about grammar, until I took some basic tests (most in fun) and was exposed for the ignorant person I was when it comes to grammar. 🙂 I’m learning as I read others’ wisdom shared on this topic. This book sounds like a great read and something I need to add to my library! I’m glad you shared about it, Janet!
Jeane, I used to think I was well-schooled in grammar and syntax–until I met my husband-to-be, who immediately set about explaining my incorrect uses of the language. His grammar and syntax were impeccable. I learned a lot, including the importance of being humble.
This book sounds like a hoot (and helpful as well). Adding it to my wish list and going to Twitter to follow him.
I consider the serial comma inviolate, in spite of great resistance. Invariably, it helps to clarify and omitting it frequently causes confusion. My favorite quote, from a former boss: “Don’t write to be understood; write so as not to be misunderstood.”
Thanks for sharing about this book, Janet!
I love that quote! And I’m simpatico with you on the serial comma. I don’t understand why everyone isn’t in love with it. It avoids so much misunderstanding.
Great référral, Janet. Shall purchase: thanks!
Ha! Perhaps a bit of overuse of accent marks occurred here?
Still my teacher. Thanks for this reminder.
Hey, Marty, nice to hear from you!
Love historical fiction, but some authors use character dialects throughout the entire novel. Reading a story right now where one of the characters is so steeped in his accent and language usage it frequently takes me out of the story. However, the character is extremely poor and downtrodden and could speak no other way. I’m not even sure the author, living in this day and age, could really relate. Any thoughts or rules on this? Thank you, Janet!
My personal rule of thumb re: accents/speech patterns – treat them like spices. Just enough to flavor, not enough to overpower. So, for example, an occasional ” ’em” or ” y’all”, but that’s enough to convey how they speak. Just be consistent – don’t use ” ’em” in one paragraph and then switch to “them”.
Star, that’s excellent advice.