Sunday, September 27, 2009

That demned elusive grammar

Grammar and punctuation and tenses, are all very well and proper, but anyone who knows anything about words knows to expect anything from them. They are living things, and like all such hate to be confined. They should be allowed to run free, and if this offends grammarians, so be it: it is their loss, the words do not care, and nor should writers. All that is important is meaning and understanding and enjoyment.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Periphrastic, pleonastic or redundant

In the various arts, and above all in writing, the shortest distance between two points, even if close to each other, has never been and never will be, what is known as a straight line, never, never, to put it strongly and emphatically in response to any doubts, to silence them once and for all. (Jose Saramago - The Stone Raft)

Phew, and I thought it was just me!