Monday, January 20, 2014

'Rules' Don't Necessarily Rule . . .

In an earlier post, I said you must give yourself permission to keep things simple. Your readers will appreciate that.

Likewise, forget about some of the so-called *rules* that were pounded into your head from grade school teachers on up -- or from parents who liked to play grammar police.

In modern, good, acceptable non-fiction writing, "rules" are broken all the time. The King's English is seldom required or desired.

For example, a classic rule is to never put a preposition (of, with, to, etc.) at the end of a sentence. So, rather than saying, "That's the church I belong to," the rules enforcers insisted you say, "That's the church to which I belong."

But, honestly, are you really offended in any way, shape, manner, or form by "That's the church I belong to"? I mean, c'mon!

None other than Winston Churchill illustrated (wonderfully) the folly of such a rule, when he sardonically wrote: "That is something up with which I will not put!" :)



Guess what? The far more appropriate, natural-sounding and easily understood phrasing -- "That is something I won't put up with!" -- has a preposition ("with") at the end. Oh, the humanity! Thank you, Winston.

Three paragraphs above (take a look) I started a sentence with "But." Can I do that? Of course I can. And you can, too. Oh, see what I just did! I also just started a sentence with "And." Perfectly ok.

They comfortably and logically help connect thoughts within a passage. And that's a cool thing (there I go again).

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