Writing Tools

In our common culture, grammar has taken on at least three sets of meanings and associations. It still refers to the etiquette of writing and reading, the conventions that allow us to create a standard written English, the technical term for which, according to critic John Simon, is "grapholect."

This view of grammar is sometimes called "prescriptive," which is how I came to understand in 1959 (at the age of 11) that, when the Big Bopper sang "... but baby I ain't go no money, honey," he was using language in a way that would have gotten his ass kicked by Sister Catherine William.

Lest you think reference to the Big Bopper, who died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, is too old school, I refer you "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas: "What you gon' do with all that junk? All that junk inside your trunk? I'ma get, get, get, get you drunk, get you love drunk off my hump..."

Then, of course, along came "descriptive grammar," a movement that had the unmitigated gall (why is gall always unmitigated?) to sneak "ain't" in the dictionary, a discipline of language that could take into account the Big Bopper's nonstandard usage, including that surely double negative.

Underpinning this rebellion against Emily Post conformity was something called "transformational" or "generative" grammar, described by scholars such as Noam Chomsky, before he became a political critic and darling of the left. In this view of language, grammar was a limited set of rules -- the deep structure existing in all languages -- that could be learned even by young children to generate an infinite number of sentences.

Missing from all of this is what I would describe as "practical grammar," the elements of language as tools of making meaning. A field of study called "rhetorical grammar" comes close, and I continue to learn from it, but too many of the texts I have seen from this school are dense and impractical.

As opposed to all of these, "The Glamour of Grammar" presents to readers, not a comprehensive grammar, but an essential grammar: those elements of language that the reader and writer can use today and every day. Readers of "The Glamour of Grammar" will not only learn the parts of speech, they will learn why powerful writers prefer concrete nouns and active verbs; they will learn not only the difference between transitive and instransitive verbs, but how to use that difference to emphasize your point; they will not only learn how to make subjects and verbs agree, but how to position them in a sentence with a purpose; they will not only learn to distinguish active, passive, and copulative verbs (I love verbs that copulate!), but also come to understand that writers choose one over the others to create a specific effect on the readers.

I have been most influenced by the model of thinking found in the first 21 pages of the original edition of "The Elements of Style." I own an edition from 1934, before E.B. White revised and expanded it. The first chapter has what William Strunk describes as the "prerequisites" of writing: basic spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation. I think Strunk is wrong to call them prerequisites because even kindergarten children can compose interesting stories. But he's on target by trying to teach the mechanics of language within the context of making meaning.

That method applies, I hope, to every word in "The Glamour of Grammar." This book will help you:

1. Identify the elements of language and learn distinctions you can use in your writing.
2. Learn the key elements of syntax that help in the construction of purposeful sentences.
3. Learn the most common mistakes in grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling and how to avoid them.
4. Grow in confidence that you can, on occasion, break the rules with a purpose.
5. Learn to adjust your language to serve the needs of all the discourse communities to which you belong.

Each of the essays in this book will fall into one of four categories of language: words; words that join together; words that join together to make meaning; words that join together to make meaning for a purpose.

"You're writing a book about grammar?" asked a friend.

"Not just grammar."

"So what else?"

"All the language knowledge inside my head."

"You're writing a book about the inside of your head?"

"Precisely."

You have a right to ask about what is inside my head and how it got there. This is the first book ever about the inside of my head, and it draws upon many language experiences over five decades, more than can be described in a single text. But here are the sources of some of this knowledge:

• Growing up in a family of talkers.
• Growing up in a bi-lingual family, where nursery rhymes were often recited in Italian.
• Having a mother and grandmother who read to me.
• Going to a Catholic school where I learned to read through phonics.
• Studying formal grammar and syntax through methods such as the diagramming of sentences.
• Reading avidly as a child, mostly adventure books for boys. 
• Studying liturgical Latin to become an altar boy.
• Taking two years of Latin in high school. (I won a silver medal in a national contest.)
• Taking three years of Spanish in high school and another year in college.
• Taking two years of French in college.
• Studying poetry and literature in college and graduate school.
• Studying practical approaches to the teaching of writing, which included ideas from composition, rhetoric and semantics.
• Studying Old English and Middle English in graduate school.
• Writing a dissertation on language issues in the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry.
• Studying and teaching a course in the history of the English language.
• Moving from New York to Alabama, which led me to the study of dialect and language prejudice.
• Becoming a writing coach and working with professional writers, especially journalists.
• Working as editor or author of 15 books.
• Writing hundreds of essays for a journalism Web site, and getting feedback from around the world.
• Being an active player in countless discourse communities (or language clubs), mastering the specialized languages of a rich variety of groups.
• Falling in love with the English language.

Consider this book a fervent love letter to the language. I want you to love it too. So maybe I should change the metaphor from a love note to a kind of Kama Sutra of the word: 50 ways to love your language. Each of the experiences described above has left a permanent mark on my intellect and spirit. Together those marks form a mosaic of the inside of my head. I wish I could send from the wand of my pencil a magic spell through the air to imprint this knowledge and love in your heads and hearts as well. Until I can figure out that bit of enchantment, "The Glamour of Grammar" will have to do.

Next: How could glamour and grammar possibly be the same word?

[What formative experiences created for you a love of the English language?]