Quote Originally Posted by blythe spirit View Post
This thread is well worth the read. Interesting. I endeavor to be as grammatically correct in my writing as the imperfections of today's grammar will allow. Oft' times I fail.




The above quote amazes me. Of course, you didn't say if you "won" the competition, or not? I've found competition to be extremely technical on proper grammar, even when not grammar related, because there are an abundance of entries. I was once disqualified, because I used my initials, rather than my full first name. Guess they never heard of e.e. cummings or T.S. Eliot. lol

Due to the rigidity of competition, MMI, I was always pleased when my piece was awarded. Obviously, they judged on more than the content. I would really like to know in what competitions proper grammar is not expected, because I'd like to enter. hehehe
Not even placed!

Your implied suggestion that only if I'd won would my earlier post have been valid is refuted. By expecting me to win, you are, perhaps, less demanding than those who permit me to only use bad grammar if I've sold half a million books, but I reject your yardstick as much as theirs.

I did receive several complimentary messages from readers and fellow competitors, however, and not one of them objected to the grammatical "mistakes".

But I suspect that hardly anyone here - if anyone at all - finds my incorrect use of English interferes with their understanding of what I say. I would go so far as to suggest that pedantic adherence to correct grammar can and frequently does make comprehension much harder, however - to the unending joy of lawyers, no doubt; and if that is the case, I'm all for disregarding the rules. Common usage is greater authority than Strunk and Fowler combined!

Remember, whole languages have developed and are spoken fluently by man and child without the need for grammarians to impose their arcane rules about what word order to use, whether a word is a noun or a substantive, and how it should be declined, or how a verb must be conjugated. They are probably all the better for it.