So Serious Saturday #5

Fiction needs a basis in reality. Exercising non-fiction muscles once in a while benefits an active imagination, channeling creative energies as it focuses on a subject. So Serious Saturdays will be an active place for critical essays or writing about reality in the context of real events - even when it is not written on Saturdays.

Type: Informational Commentary

Differing Grammar Rules

     Have you ever wondered why different publications seem to use different rules for grammar? Or why one book uses serial commas (lions, tigers, and bears) while another does not (lions, tigers and bears). Or even where you should use commas?

     Mary Norris of The New Yorker tells about her experience as a copy-editor and how it lead her to a surprising revelation: commas can be used creatively to unite words rather than to just separate concepts, clarify meaning, or tell the reader when to take a breath. 

     Although all of the above are legitimate uses for commas, and all can be used in different places, the usage must be consistent. In other words, if you say I walked my tigers, lions, and bears on Tuesday, you should not say within the same work I usually walk my tigers, lions and bears on weekends. Readers often get a sense of how a writer is going to write from the initial examples, whether that is the first few sentences or the first few pages of a work. Publishing houses have what are termed "house rules" for such items as grammar, spelling, and punctuation which remain consistent across all of their media outlets.

     If the professionals have a standard mode of grammar, beginning wordsmiths would do well to imitate one style at a time in order to find a mode of expression that is best for the message they wish to convey; is the sound the best auxiliary attribute of the work, or is the work meant to be read swiftly with minimal punctuation? The writer must decide. And then the proofreaders and copywriters must decide. And then an editor must decide. And sometimes the editors ask the writer, and they must then decide together. 

     The strangest grammar can occur when the style of the writer clashes with the house rules of the editor. Based on what I've seen during my time in student-run publications, and what Norris' article implies, the house rules usually win. Unless, of course, the writer has a very good, explicable reasons for their artistic choices. Publications have a sort of "brand name" to carry on, and anything outside of that image endangers the name of that publication. To some degree, authors also have their own image, often called their voice or style.

     But writers, do not take advantage of your artistic license. And editors, do not lord the rules over the works comprising your work. The focus should be readability; that is, the reader's experience. Together, ask, "How can we convey the message to the audience in the clearest possible manner?"