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last.updated 10.13.08

The Power of Grammar

Purpose

For many writers, the word "grammar" often constitutes the primary way they have been taught to think about writing. And any discussion about grammar often revolves around whether one's usage is correct or not. Grammar, however, is much more complex than that. It is not necessarily an issue of correctness. Instead it can be envisioned as an issue of how we connect with our audience. Thus the more control we have over our use of grammar, the more control we have over the connections we make with our audience.

Discussion–Three Types of Grammar

We will start the conversation addressing the following question and applying it to these examples:

What is grammar?

"It was a dreadful picture of ingratitude and inhumanity; and Anne felt at some moments, that no flagrant open crime could have been worse" (Jane Austen, Persuasion, 1971)

LOL Cats

Inherent Grammar: These are the rules you just pick up by participating in communication. Place the following words in the order you would use them.

four hackers young the German

Conventional Grammar: These are rules that have been adopted to facilitate communication for a population that shares the same language. Correct the following sentence:

Cyberpunks like those described in science fiction novels are heroes of the new electronic frontiers, they are the ones that know how to adapt to the technology's control over society.

Stylistic Grammar: These are the practices writers use to create a desired connection with their audience. Writers may choose to adopt the rules of standard academic English, another dialect (AAVE, Southern Creole), or a purposeful violation of these rules. Does the following sentence violate any grammatical rules?

Because many teachers believe students' writing abilities are corrupted by the digital technologies, teachers will not allow these technologies in their classrooms.

Class Activity–Working with Grammar

As a class we will look at the following sentence from the recent Chicago Sun-Times article on drinking and brain size:

First, the experts said drinking low to moderate amounts of alcohol was a good idea, that it might protect against heart disease.

Then we will use this sentence to...

• use the SMH to identify the different parts of this sentence
• discuss whether the writer uses grammar effectively (consider the purpose and the audience of the text)
• consider how we might revise this sentence if we were writing an article on the same topic for a campus newspaper. Be prepared to explain your revisions

You will be assigned to one of five groups. In your group, you and your peers will be assigned other paragraphs in this article. As a group apply the same prompts above (the bulleted list) to one sentence of your choice in your assigned selection. Be prepared to report what you have learned and what you have done.