Arbitrary Grammar Rules: Breaking Them

Sure, rules of sentence structure exist. But if all writers follow them slavishly, we would not have sentence fragments like these in well-known books and essays:

• My birthday a year ago when he had twenty-five nights left to live. (Joan Didion, from The Year of Magical Thinking)
• To return to the convoy about to depart. (Viktor E. Frankl, translated by Ilse Lasch, from Man's Search for Meaning) 
• But for what purpose? (Martin Luther King, Jr., from Letter from a Birmingham City Jail)
• Semitic? Semiotic? Jews and the science of signs? (Walker Percy, from "Why Are You a Catholic?" in Signposts in a Strange Land)

The point? Know the rules first and break them sparingly for dramatic effect.

Arbitrary Grammar Rules: Pronoun Agreement

The rule used to be that a gender-nonspecific singular noun needed a masculine singular pronoun for agreement. Example:

A reporter must understand his ethical responsibility.

The rule changed to subvert what some construed as a male-dominated mindset.  In 1975, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) published a position statement, Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language, allowing for this new pronoun:

A reporter must understand his or her ethical responsibility.

So we solved the gender-exclusivity and created a new problem—awkwardness, as seen in the example below:

A reporter must understand his or her ethical responsibility, and if he or she has any doubt about the truth of a story he or she is covering, he or she should consult with his or her editor.

What solutions would the NCTE offer to such awkwardness? For one, make the original noun plural:

Reporters must understand their ethical responsibility, and if they have any doubt about the truth of a story they are covering, they should consult with their editor.

Another solution is to eliminate the disagreeable pronouns altogether:

A reporter must understand the ethical responsibility of the job, and if in doubt about the truth of a story, should consult with the editor.

Easy enough, but the issue continues when employees refer to their organizations:

XYZ, Inc. cares about its employees.

Corporate employees frown upon referring to their company as an it. They remedy the situation in several ways:

XYZ, Inc. cares about their employees. (This solution is grammatically incorrect, but many employees knowledgeable about the rule do not care, as they believe the problem is not theirs but the grammar snobs'.)

XYZ, Inc. management cares about the employees.

At XYZ, Inc., we care about our employees.

The moral? Just as we avoid strange people and places in certain situations, we might want to steer clear of this arbitrary grammar rule.

Writing for the Web Online Course Ready to Go

I recently completed designing the American Management Association's Writing for the Web course based on its successful classroom version. The course will run four consecutive weeks on the same weekday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. US Eastern time. I will be leading the first two offerings:

• September 12, 19, 26, October 3 (Mondays)
• November 28, December 5, 12, and 19 (Mondays)

The program focuses on writing skills needed for creating clear, concise online content, but it also looks closely at search engine optimization, social media platforms, blogging, and websites.

You can register by clicking here.

Books by Philip Vassallo

• How to Write Fast Under Pressure
• The Art of E-mail Writing
• The Art of On-the-Job Writing
• The Inwardness of the Outward Gaze: Learning and Teaching Through Philosophy

Three Books, Three Looks at Writing

A frequently asked question I get is, "What are the differences among your books on writing?" Here are my one-sentence answers: 

• How to Write Fast Under Pressure focuses on techniques for overcoming writer's block and generating ideas by planning creatively, drafting quickly, and rewriting efficiently, whether you are a business or a technical writer.
• The Art of E-mail Writing concerns writing email at work with special attention to getting to the point, addressing your reader's concerns, organizing your ideas, coming across professionally, and managing your email system.
• The Art of On-the-Job Writing describes the qualities of the writing product and the steps of the writing process in the natural order that they should emerge to an effective writer in any profession.  

I hope this helps, but if you have further questions, I'm just a post or an email away. 

Books by Philip Vassallo

• How to Write Fast Under Pressure
• The Art of E-mail Writing
• The Art of On-the-Job Writing
• The Inwardness of the Outward Gaze: Learning and Teaching Through Philosophy

Connecting the Opening and the Closing

If your written proposals, justifications, and analyses are anything like mine, then your first drafts are weak in the opening and strong in the closing. At first crack, I often lack a solid introductory paragraph, but my conclusion usually summarizes the key issues and highlights what’s at stake for the reader. For instance, I might open a proposal with a weak opening, like so:

This is a proposal for switching to the HearMeNow Smartphone for our project managers.

After crafting a strong case in the body of the message by detailing the nature, causes, and impact of communication problems that project managers experience in the field and by noting options with a comparative analysis, I might conclude with a far superior closing, such as:

HearMeNow clearly is the superior choice because of its diverse business applications, expansive area coverage, unmatched carrier service, and prolonged battery life—all of which are vital for project managers, who are often in the field for up to ten hours in a workday. Approving this proposal for all 11 project managers would result in receiving a deep volume discount of 33 percent for the smartphones and the monthly service.

So my closing is a heavyweight and my opening is a 98-pound weakling. I bring it all home at the end but fail to focus the reader on the significance of the issue upfront, where it really counts.

Not a problem.

All I need to remember is that the opening and closing are powerfully connected. Both places are where the purpose shows up. Maybe I can use something from the closing in the opening. With that thought in mind, here is how I might align them:

Opening: Replacing our project managers’ mobile phones with HearMeNow smartphones would provide them with a more robust, reliable, and economical system for sharing data and accessing the executive offices from remote locations.

Closing: HearMeNow clearly is the superior choice because of its diverse business applications, expansive area coverage, unmatched carrier service, and prolonged battery life. Approving this proposal for all 11 project managers would result in receiving a deep volume discount of 33 percent for the smartphones and the monthly service.

Taking my lead from the closing, I now have an opening that summarizes the business issue and previews the details to follow. As a side benefit, my stronger opening helped me eliminate from the closing two clauses that would have merely repeated what I already said in the body: “all of which are vital for project managers, who are often in the field for up to ten hours in a workday.”

When revising, be sure to align your openings and closings!

Books by Philip Vassallo

• How to Write Fast Under Pressure
• The Art of E-mail Writing
• The Art of On-the-Job Writing
• The Inwardness of the Outward Gaze: Learning and Teaching Through Philosophy