Comments on: Right to Write Right

By: --Deb

--Deb — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:52:28 +0000

@Linda. Some rules are absolutes, some are in the “highly recommended” category, and some are optional. Like, with driving. Turning the wheel, using the gas and brake properly–you can’t get away from those, and there are some aspects of sentence structure you just can’t mess with. But so many of the “rules” we were all taught weren’t really rules at all! That doesn’t mean they’re bad advice, just … not mandatory. It’s just convincing people that’s tricky (grin).

By: linda

linda — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:23:34 +0000

I love what you had to say about grammar and blogs and it brings to mind something I read today. A self-proclaimed marketing guru was giving tips on graphic design (the rule of 3) and said that you could use this newfound knowledge to give a graphic designer some grief, or just make them think twice. I'm a designer and it's not pretty when someone thinks they *know* something is a hard and fast rule. Learn what the rules are and know when to break them. Creativity is about knowledge, flexibility and finesse. linda’s last blog post..Drawing with Children

By: J

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:56:30 +0000

I'm a medium level grammar snob. I have a very dear real-life friend who consistently confuses "loose" and "lose", and in real life says, "her and I" or "me and her". These all grate on me, and make me put my teeth on edge. But she is a wonderful, generous person. A dear friend, who has stood by my side through much. So I look the other way. The snobbery comes twofold...one, in that no matter how much I love her, I still notice. Two, in that if I didn't know her, it would take some mighty fine writing for me to not write her off and move on in the blogiverse. There are so many blogs to read, I'm hesitant to spend much time with my teeth on edge. J’s last blog post..Being a Mom

By: --Deb

--Deb — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:14:33 +0000

I do know of a couple blogs that skip the capital letter thing because of physical problems with the actual typing, and I can deal with that … so long as the blog is otherwise worth it. But it’s got to be WORTH it! It’s like listening to a school orchestra–if they’re out of tune and grate on your ears, but your kid is in it, you put up with it; if they’re remarkably good but you don’t know any of the kids, it doesn’t matter, you listen anyway; but if they’re out of tune and you don’t have any connection with any of the so-called musicians? Then why torture yourself?

By: Norma

Norma — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:21:24 +0000

You already KNOW that i agree wtih you about all of this. (LOL at my own “cleverness” — decidedly placed in quotes — at leaving that sentence exactly as it was originally typed, with typos and the little i) Well, all except for the profanity part. (Again, I slay myself — not an endearing quality.)

There is one blog that I had to delete from my feedreader because I could not bear to read it any longer, and I felt certain a cerebral bleed would come on if I continued to try. The lack of capitalizing and punctuation finally did me in. It is done, I guess, for cutesy reasons; I’m not sure. There was also a content problem, as for the longest time every single entry was basically, “I’m too tired to blog,” or “I have nothing to say.”

“Alrighty, then,” thought I. “I have nothing to read, also.”

I do know one thing: There was only one e.e. cummings. It’s been so DONE already.

Norma’s last blog post..From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

By: --Deb

--Deb — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:10:34 +0000

Of course, I think there’s still a minimum level of basic writing ability that helps. There HAVE been some blogs I’ve been to that had such awful writing that I couldn’t stand it, even with interesting content.

By: Steve Costello

Steve Costello — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:28:54 +0000

If the blog is interesting enough, grammar is not too much of an issue with me. I have a pretty casual style myself. There have been some blogs where the grammar is so bad that I could not make any sense of the posts. They were so bad that I can not even remember which ones they are, but they are not in my Google Reader either. Steve Costello’s last blog post..MindRaider - Open Source Note Taker

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:15:34 +0000

Hi Deb, I think good writing is important. However, as a practical matter, I can't devote the time I should to proofing my own blog posts, and certainly wouldn't hold anyone else to a higher standard. But we should try to do the best we can, as a courtesy to readers if nothing else. Brad Shorr’s last blog post..If You Have Lots to Say, Say It on a Business Blog

By: Lillie Ammann

Lillie Ammann — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:39:46 +0000

Deb, I'm tolerant of writing in a casual style. That's how I write myself. I don't expect perfection—heaven knows I make more than my share of mistakes. However, if a blog is riddled with poor grammar, I will probably click away. Otherwise, I'll find myself editing the piece rather than enjoying it. Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Miss Guided and Richard Turner

By: Judy H.

Judy H. — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:32:53 +0000

I'm not hugely picky about grammar in the blogs that I read, except when a grammar quirk hits a pet peeve. Even then, if the subject is interesting or otherwise well-written, I'll do my best to ignore it. I ran across a blog recently where the author completely ignored the apostrophe in contractions (but not in possessives, so it wasn't a broken keyboard), and it bugged the snot out of me. I didn't automatically reject the blog, but I did find I couldn't get past that. I may have missed out on some good stuff -- this is probably more my failing than the author's. Now, I occasionally find a blog where the author has no clue about grammar at all. I usually find those completely unreadable, even when I know the blog is popular. I'm not being a snob, I just can't get the internal English major to shut up. Judy H.’s last blog post..Another Early Morning