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Great debate! Conformist versus non-conformist.
posted by
hardilaziz
on September 9, 2009 at 6:42 AM
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You can change tense when appropriate. BC-A, Bill’s Avant-Garde Collection
posted by
BC-A
on August 25, 2009 at 7:04 PM
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If it fits the character I say do it. For Huck Finn it makes a lot of sense. If you're point of view is coming from English professor I would say grammatical rules need to be followed.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on August 25, 2009 at 5:53 PM
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Grand post! In poetry, it is permissable to make up a word to fit a specific words scheme! So it should be when writing anything that is not true and factual! sam
posted by
sam444
on August 24, 2009 at 6:13 AM
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Re: Being gramatically correct.
I sincerely thank you! This is the best reply (or tip) I can ever get and wished for
Thnx!
posted by
Aspire2Inspire
on August 24, 2009 at 5:56 AM
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Being gramatically correct.
Aspiring one,
Being grammatically correct, like being politically correct, is what is narrowly considered to be proper use of language, but isn't how one thinks or speaks, in most cases. Ending a sentence with a preposition, isn't acceptable in 7th grade English class, but it is how most people talk in everyday life. Slang and improper words like "ain't" would earn you a bad grade in school, but ask yourself, "Am I being graded on this, or am I communicating?" If songwriters or poets couldn't exercise "writer's license" by twisting or inventing original creative language, it would lose much of its impact. Give yourself permission to bend definitions, occasionally even BREAK the rules, (!) and you are freeing yourself to be creative and original in the best and most effective means of communicating a thought. I have sometimes made up words, and found that nobody came knocking on my door to arrest me, and charge me with "crimes against language." Indeed, some have even remarked that my inventive use of a non-word, just put the final polish on a composition. If one is constrained in their writing by worries of being "proper" it will end up sounding and seeming to be just that, "CONSTRAINED!" Forget the rules! You will find that it is very freeing, and your work will be better for it.
Guy
posted by
northsage_45
on August 23, 2009 at 10:53 PM
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