Blog #13

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Lynne Truss’ introduction called “The Seventh Sense” from the book “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves.” Not only was it a worthwhile read based on its content, but her stylistic approach made me literally laugh out loud several times - something that has rarely, if ever, occurred within my academic career thus far. This in itself made me appreciate her stance on the importance of both punctuation and its potential to get lost within the haze of mistakes and lax writing rules as society advances (or in the case of punctuation, digresses). Truss suggests that punctuation is clearly the driving force of writing and provides examples of misplaced or absent punctuation that completely changes the intent of a sentence or paragraph...and in some cases, an entire work. Her description of the lack of emphasis on punctuation and grammar within schools made me realize the prevalence of common mistakes within many different forms of communication. However, after reading Jack Lynch’s, “Grammar, and Nonsense, and Learning: We Look to the Future,” I began to realize that being a “stickler” may not, in fact, be the best course of action if maintaining some semblance of “order” within the English language is of primary concern. His emphasis on appropriateness when employing language is particularly insightful, as well as his argument that for the past century (at least), the efforts made to maintain grammar and punctuation have proven to be futile. Additionally, the use of language as a socializing mechanism and a means of categorically structuring people based on level and choice of language is also extremely eye-opening. I truly enjoyed both of these articles and they have made me that much more of a proponent for this area of expertise.