Re: grammar tricks as guerilla warfare

[Twila.Yates.Papay@Rollins.Edu]

Guerilla grammar is the way to go!  Have any of you seen Russell Baker's 
piece on punctuation?  It fits onto a front and back copied, and my 
students love it.  We keep copies in the Writing Center "red box" (a 
plastic box of file folders full of fun stuff people ask for or help 
themselves to).  I use it to teach "all you need on punctuation" in 
freshman composition.  They love compression.

twila yates papay


On Wed, 20 Nov 1996, James E. Werchan wrote:

> This is interesting stuff, after a fashion.  I get a bit uncomfortable when
> I'm called upon to talk like Ms. Grundy (or whichever stereotypical
> grammar-cop comes to mind).
> 
> sometimes i just settle for advising the frantically befuddled:
> 
> "when it comes to commas, when in doubt, do without."   I know that doesn't
> fix everything that needs to be fixed, but it's my hunch that there are more
> comma sins of commission than there are comma sins of omission.
> 
> similarly, when it comes to who/m, i advise them to use who when they're in
> doubt, because:
>  a.  eventually our language will probably drop the m.   
>  b.  there are probably more hypercorrection errors that put M's where they
> shouldn't be than put nothing where m should be.
> 
> any other such guerilla grammar out there?
> 
> james werchan
> osu lima
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