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/lit/ - Literature

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722391 No.722391 [Reply] [Original]

Yay or nay, /lit/?

>> No.722393

I don't like being told what to do. But that's just me.

>> No.722399

The dudes at Language Log rip this book up. I think it's beneficial to impose rules on something as wild as language, but never having read this book that's as far as i can go in my opinion.

>> No.722409

Book's bullshit. It's just a few prescriptive grammar rules that Strunk preferred.

Ya know how sometimes you get a professor who really feels it is IMPERATIVE you put two spaces after each period? Yeah, shit like that. A few of the rules are common sense (double negatives, dangling prepositions,) but this book is largely useless.

>> No.722421

>>722393
>>722399
>>722409
ITT: people who can't write for shit

>> No.722427

It's a good basic style guide. If you're trying to get published, it could mean the diff between maybe and probably not.

>> No.722513

>>722421

ITT: The cancer that's killing linguistics.

>> No.722591

yay

>> No.722600

>>722513
Linguistics, as a discipline, is disinterested in the prescription/description debate. The cancer that's killing lexicography, maybe.

>> No.722658

>>722409
After learning to put two spaces after a sentence when learning how to type as a kid, it feels really unnatural not to do it, to the point that I'll sometimes feel upset when a website or program corrects it to one space.

>> No.722671

>>722600
it isn't disinterested, description is simply the widely accepted side.

>> No.722827

FUCKING YAY, BITCHES.

I never start writing without my copy of this at hand.
If I can't think of how something should be punctuated, aligned, or arranged, I instantly hit this book.

If you don't read it, you don't know a thing about writing.

>> No.722921

>>722409
It is imperative. Putting two spaces behind a period is not optional. Go pick up a book, any book, and see for yourself.

YAY. Great, succinct advice, it's best to read it every once in a while. Remember, a large part of writing is just working on the fundamentals.

>> No.722927

>>722393
>But that's just me.

Implying other people like being told what to do? Gee, you must be some kind of, i dunno, some awesome freethinking maverick, rising above the rest of those zombie sheeple who love following orders, right? Jesus christ you sound like a 15 year old.

>> No.722946

yay

particularly when they bash teachers who always want you to use synonyms for "said"

if a writer's dialogue isn't able to truly speak for itself, then that's when you have to start using "exclaimed" "hissed" "snarled" and whatnot....

so i agree with white and strunk on that point

>> No.722950

>>722927

settle down, your father loves you, just call him up

>> No.722969

>>722950
What does this mean?

>> No.722979

>>722969

the poster was obviously harboring anger towards his father because he didn't follow in his footsteps when it came to picking a career...

his whole life he has been told what to do, and he did nothing but fall in line. he's probably a manager of some corporate business now, telling people what to do... hoping that someone step out of line and stand up to him

>> No.723012

Enough of the derail. Everyone should read this, voted yay.

>> No.723014

>>722979
lol ok yeah, you're obviously a child.

>> No.723048

>>722391
Aren't we supposed to be at least somewhat literate here?

It's YEA or nay, you stupid piece of trash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yea

>> No.723070

>>723048
>>implying language is static and 'yay' isn't a reasonable way to spell 'yea'.
Get the fuck out, you prescriptivist cunt.

>> No.723078

>>723070
Moron.

>> No.723086

>>723070
Yeah we should all just spell things phonetically because people like you are too stupid and ignorant to get things right.

>> No.723139

>>723048
Had a feeling I was spelling it wrong. Thanks.

>> No.723144

>>722921
It was only necessary when people were still writing on typewriters.

>>722671
Yes it is. Go ask a linguist.

As for OP's question: Strunk and White is ok, but it's not the best usage guide out there. I'd recommend Garner's Modern American Usage. It's a reference book, not a handbook, but it's quite good, and very interesting if you're the sort of person who gets excited about semantics...which, sadly, I am.

>> No.723327

Grammar: the tools needed to communicate a meaning. The book is great for the rules of what each tool does and is understood to mean. It's flexible based on voice, style, and tone.

>>722946
The reader's eye goes over he said, she said as if it isn't there. It's the notation of who is speaking and it should be left as simple as possible.

>> No.723335

>>723327

>The book is great for the rules of what each tool does and is understood to mean.

Unless you want to know what the passive voice means, of course.

>> No.724170

>>723335
It's got some flaws. It's a good quick resource.

>> No.724466

For myself, it was money well spent. Not even a lot of money, at that.
>>722427
Good, 'cause that's pretty much what I was thinking when I bought it.

>> No.725738

>ITT: Enlightened English Majors who still harbor the belief that their inconsequential writings mean anything to anyone beyond themselves as well as the sincere confidence that those people who populate this world are as concerned with the devolution of the English language which has allowed such travesties as widespread failure to meet the grammatical standards of Academia to occur as they are.

>> No.727261

>>725738
Bitter, much?

>> No.727266

>>725738

Did you know that competent academics aren't actually at all worried about the "devolution" of the English language?

>> No.727292

Narration - formal
Dialogue - whatever sounds natural

>> No.727465

>>727266

You're making the assumption that anyone here is competent.

>> No.727472

>>723144
Have you read DFW's review of GMAU?