Rule One of Style: Break the Conventions

             We are taught strict, proper grammar from a young age. Our teachers took red pens to our essays -underlining, circling, and drawing Xs where we had run-on sentences, syntax errors, and misspellings. We were told over and over not to begin sentences with and or but. But (to begin a sentence with a conjunction), we should take a look at the styles of writers who have been held as the most influential in English. “Butchering the king’s English” is not a crime or improper; a writer has absolute artistic license to use or manipulate language and to do so promotes distinctive style. Interestingly enough, some of the writers regarded as the greatest wordsmiths in this language were from England or Ireland and considered cultural icons.

            If Jane Austen had followed strict conventions, working inside the box of what is considered correct, she simply would not have stood out as she had. As obvious as this may seem, it is certainly worth stating and exploring. In Northanger Abbey, Austen writes, “As soon as breakfast was over, she sat down to fulfil her promise to Miss Tilney, whose trust in the effect of time and distance on her friend’s disposition was already justified, for already did Catherine reproach herself with having parted from Eleanor coldly; with having never enough valued her merits or kindness; and never enough commiserated her for what she had been yesterday left to endure” (174). If, had a student of any level of assumed educated dignity, turned in to a teacher, for whom holding dear the conventions, both modern and perhaps antiquated, would have, knowingly or otherwise, invited red ink spotting the work upon return. It is difficult to even try to emulate Austen’s style as the above (probably poorly executed) attempt demonstrates, but it is fun. Just typing this quote from her work prompted the word processor to flag “fulfil” as misspelled. Although conventions of spelling change over time as well.

            Laurence Sterne’s unique style is another good example. His work, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, is full of extreme case run-on sentences, but Stern can also be very brief –Chapter Five in Volume Four is only one short sentence. He experimented –often taking punctuation to strange artistic territory: “- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - he’s gone! said my uncle Toby. –Where-Who? cried my father.-My nephew, said my uncle  Toby.-What-without leave-without money-without governor? cried my father in amazement” (279). This kind of grammar and use of dashes could alarm a conventional high school teacher if this had been handed in by a student and while typing this quote, the word processor seemed to attempt to intervene –changing the capitalization as I tried to maintain Sterne’s original style.

            It can be argued that a novel may be a proper venue for improper grammar and experimental writing styles while another setting might not be –for example, an article for an academic journal or a thesis paper. However, even in the context of a rigid academic research paper, there is still room for style and fun. We should study the rules, but language evolves with our experimentation. And do not let a word processor hamper your style.