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No matter what your fifth-grade English teacher says, some
grammar "rules" no longer apply. The style mavens of our
day all agree that the ability to communicate clearly and
concisely takes precedence over archaic grammar rules. Stop
chewing your pencils and forget about these rules. Each rule is
followed by a grammatically correct sentence.
1. Never split an infinitive.
I want to carefully consider all of the options
presented to
me.
Following this rule all of the time will make your prose
unnecessarily academic and stuffy. When in doubt, don't split the
infinitive. But if splitting the infinitive conveys your meaning
more clearly and concisely, split away.
2. Active verbs are always
better than passive verbs.
Jerry was robbed. (The active alternative: Somebody robbed
Jerry.)
Generally, active verbs are
better. In the following cases, however, passive tense works just
fine:
- When you don’t want to
mention who did it
- When you don’t know who did
it
- When who did it is irrelevant
- When the passive voice places
the emphasis where you want it
3. Never start a sentence with a conjunction (and, or,
but )
And then he left, never looking back.
Starting a sentence with a conjunction can help transition from
one idea to another or add a dramatic tone to a passage. If you
start sentences this way too often, your paragraphs will sound
like one long run-on sentence. Use conjunctions at the start of
sentences judiciously.
4. Never start a sentence with there are or there
is.
There is no excuse for your behavior.
Sentences that begin with there are and
there is are usually
weak sentences in need of a stronger noun. But making a conscious
decision to start a sentence this way to place emphasis on
specific words is perfectly acceptable. "Your behavior is
inexcusable" and "You have no excuse for your
behavior" just don't sound as stern as the sentence above.
5. Never end a sentence with a preposition.
What is he pointing at?
This holdover from the 18th century has no place in modern
language. Imagine how stilted and formal our language would be if
we followed this rule! According to Words into Type, Winston
Churchill once said, "This is the kind of nonsense up with
which I will not put" in defense of the terminal preposition.
6. Always use more than instead of
over with numbers.
The relic is over 300 years old.
Over, more than and in excess of can all
be used with numbers. Let your ear, rather than a rigid rule, be
your guide.
7. Data is plural, so the verb must always be plural.
The data proves his thesis.
Like several other plural words with Latin origins, data
is now accepted as either singular or plural, as any up-to-date
dictionary will confirm. When was the last time you heard someone
use the word datum (the singular of data) in a
sentence?
Need more proof that these rules are outdated? We’ve got
citations from several respected references at http://www.writing911.com.
© 2005, Kivi Leroux Miller. All Rights Reserved.
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