Lani's Blog

Grammar: My Love/Hate Relationship

Ugh. Another review with spelling error and grammar mistakes. "I can't stand it" as Charlie Brown would say. One reason I like the Writer's Cramp contest is that it is mostly judged on how well you follow the prompt. Of course the judges help with errors but it doesn't seem to impact your chances unless the errors are really bad. Anyway this is not an ad for the Writer's Cramp.





In another contest, I had misspelled a word even though spell-check here said there were no errors. One word looked wrong but I'm not the best speller so I let it go. Of course it came back WRONG. I checked it again. Same answer. Finally used Word spell-check. Guess what. I was WRONG. Big surprise. Just an aside, does anyone have paperback dictionaries anymore?





I know grammar and spelling are important. I want people to understand what I am saying. And I have seen the extreme. An another forum I visit has a poster who can barely spell and uses hardly any punctuation. I try to skip his stuff because its like trying to read Klingon or something. It's hard to skip them, when others are posting how much they enjoy his insights and jokes. I sometimes can weasle out the meanings but not always. I can't tell if this is an affectation or this person is learning disabled. It's possible since it comes from an ADD board.





I guess what bugs me is when grammar can change the intent of my story or poem. When someone says 'I know you meant... but it says this because..." kinda tears at my heart. I feel my soul shrinking because that where my words live. Sounds dramatic I know, and I guess in the grand scheme of things it shouldn't matter but.......it does.





I know this is a small rant, but I am trying to write everyday and today is the 1st of September. I have started living and dying by the reviews so I need the practice. So this is my practice rant.





"From my close observation of writers...they fall into two groups:


1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and


2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review."


~~~Isaac Asimov


So I guess I won't be bleeding secretly anymore.





p.s. no spelling errors but does spelling come under grammar now that rant is over?