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Style and Grammar, or Why Lots of Things Aren't Wrong': Morphology Syntax Semantics

Grammar refers to the rules of how words and sentences are formed in a language. Style encompasses additional conventions like punctuation, spelling, and formatting that ensure consistency but are arbitrarily set by publications. Many aspects of writing considered matters of style rather than grammar, so something going against a specific style is not necessarily wrong as long as the meaning is clear. Common examples are punctuation placement, number spelling, and word choices that may differ between British and American English styles.

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24 views

Style and Grammar, or Why Lots of Things Aren't Wrong': Morphology Syntax Semantics

Grammar refers to the rules of how words and sentences are formed in a language. Style encompasses additional conventions like punctuation, spelling, and formatting that ensure consistency but are arbitrarily set by publications. Many aspects of writing considered matters of style rather than grammar, so something going against a specific style is not necessarily wrong as long as the meaning is clear. Common examples are punctuation placement, number spelling, and word choices that may differ between British and American English styles.

Uploaded by

agama_l
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Style and grammar, or why lots of things arent wrong

What do we talk about when we talk about grammar?


Strictly speaking, grammar is the unique patterns of a language, the system of how speakers can put
together words and sentences. Grammar encompasses morphology (how to form words), syntax (how
to form sentences) and semantics (what words and sentences mean). This is what linguists talk about
when they talk about grammar.
The following areas are not grammar in the strict definition, but fall under the larger definition of grammar
as rules and principles of language: punctuation, phonology (the sound system), orthoepy (correct
pronunciation), orthography (correct spelling) and lexicon (vocabulary and usage). These (plus
morphology, syntax and semantics) are what most people talk about when they talk about grammar.
The second definition of grammar is pretty broad, but there are language-related rules that fall outside of
grammar. Many of these are style rules: whether to put the period inside or outside of quotation marks,
whether e-mail is hyphenated or a single word, and so on. Style rules are set to ensure consistency in
writing, so readers arent distracted by small differences. (And yes, readers do notice when things arent
consistent.)
Style dictates how words (and numbers) get rendered, how punctuation gets used and how text and
graphics get formatted, as well as bigger-picture things like which vulgarities are acceptable for
publication and in what contexts, jargon and euphemisms to avoid, and so on. But the thing about style is
that many of the rules are decided arbitrarily and writing that diverges from a particular style isnt
necessarily wrong. So people who hyperventilate over, for example, someone using or leaving out
an Oxford comma, are wasting their breath. Either choice is OK (as long as the sentence is clear), but a
publications style dictates which way to go.
Most newspapers in the U.S. follow Associated Press style, and most have a house style guide that
addresses local usages and policies and notes divergences from AP style. Book publishers tend toward
the Chicago Manual of Style, academia goes with APA style or MLA style, and Yahoo has its own style
guide focused on websites and other online media. Users of any of these are familiar with the minutiae
therein and will take pleasure in the satirical style guide Write More Good, by the Bureau Chiefs of
@FakeAPStylebook.
Most editors also refer to usage manuals such as Garners and Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English
Usage, as well as general style guides such as Strunk and Whites venerable (or fusty, choose your
adjective) The Elements of Style.
Stylebooks usually cover grammar and usage matters too, but there are lots of conventions in writing that
are strictly matters of style arbitrarily decided and have no bearing on grammar. These include
spelling numbers out or using figures, certain punctuation preferences, putting titles in italics or quotes,
British vs. American spellings* and usages, and so on.
Saying Sept. 1, 2011, is no more or less correct than saying September 1st, 2011, or 1 September 2011
but one follows AP style and the others dont. Its not wrong to put a period outside of quotation
marks, or inside, for that matter: one is typical of British style and one is more common in the U.S.
Towards means the same thing as toward neither is inferior but it may not be the preferred form
in the style of a publication.
The important thing to remember is that many aspects of written language are determined by style, not
grammar and just because something diverges from a particular style does not mean its wrong.
* Write More Good illustrates this point thus: caliber/calibre: The diameter of a gun barrel; the diametre
of a gun barrle.

Read more here: http://blogs.kansas.com/grammar/2012/06/04/style-and-grammar-or-why-lots-of-things-
arent-wrong/#storylink=cpy

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