Syntax Error

This week my mind has been occupied with my inadequacies. It is confession time and here is my confession; as a wannabe writer I possess only rudimentary knowledge of grammar. Allow me to elucidate-I know what sounds alright but have no knowledge of why, and if you asked me to label the grammatical devises I use, I would not have: one, single, clue. In fact as I write now I am wracked with the self-consciousness of the 'non-grammatical' class. You may inwardly sigh and tut (here she goes again), but my lack of grammatical knowledge has always felt like part of the thing that we dare not speak of - class divide. Competent writers can dissect text, like a surgeon's knife through flesh, identify and classify, diagnose and be part of the cure- at least that is the message I have received. And because I have never been able to dissect text: only like or dislike, follow the journey the author sets out or get hopelessly lost- I thought that writing was beyond me. I heard another really loud message: competent writers like Shakespeare and Jane Austen more than any other text and I really don't. I can follow the journey, but it is not one I am interested in going on, I much preferred the dark crevices of David Peace. It has taken years of self-directed pep talks and a few compliments by others (including tutors) to provide me with the confidence to put any words forward. With my head firmly over my shoulder, I wonder when I will be found out and dragged down.

I was taught to write by being enthused about the written and spoken word. I don't remember much about my primary education but I do remember story time, and I do remember being allowed to write stories. My dad was a preacher so he loved alliteration and making important statements of equal length in 3's. My children must know that this devise is a tricolon, at 11 I only knew it succinctly, elegantly and clearly, hammered home a noteworthy point and I couldn't wait to try some in my own writing.  Recently, I have discovered my youngest son's English grammar, punctuation and spelling test, it is a practise one, just before Covid made such things irrelevant. I had a little glance, and I am not confident I would answer all the questions correctly. Nothing a day or two of study wouldn't amend, if only I could muster the enthusiasm for labelling as much as I can for creating. Of course there is a need to have grammatical knowledge, I am slightly embarrassed over the lack of mine but I do question the  emphasis of labelling the structure of writing rather than practising the art of structure.  The question I ask myself is: would knowing all the answers to my son's grammar paper make me a better reader or writer? In the near future, with a generation of children intrenched in this grammatical knowledge will we produce writers and journalists who create more beautifully constructed sentences than those who came before?

Here I step over a line of good taste and into a paragraph of conjecture and opinion. Ask my long suffering husband about my habit of proselytizing to his poor bended ear. Today his ear is saved and yours is at risk. I am pretty sure some people would find the Key Stage 2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test a walk in the park. My thoughts immediately conjure images of those in positions of authority, for example, Michael Gove or our current Prime Minister both look like men who could wrap their heads around a few grammatical terms.  It seems ludicrous to me, that men who are adept at labelling and dissecting the written word seem so ill equipped when these words are spoken. The art of written grammar is seen as a virtue, but building coherent spoken sentences is seen as superfluous. Why is it vital a British child can label the many rhetoric devises in text but some of the world's most important men's rhetorical offerings is little more than bumbling, buffoonery and babbling? 

It would appear in most recent of times that the relationship between the spoken and written word has become, at least to the mainstream listener, separated by a chasm - as if one does not come forth from the other. Here I confess, yet again, that I am woefully ignorant of spoken word cultures but aware enough to know that the art of story telling is very much embedded in how words and sentences resonate and not just how they are dissected after the point. Putting aside my own political inclination, it is with great sadness that I grapple with the idea that those in positions of importance no longer feel inclined to convey articulate messages or feel it is their duty to engage. Much of the public speaking we experience is carried out in the most entitled of ways, as if their mere utterances are a favour and there is no responsibility taken in their delivery. 

Of course, if you know anything about me you will know that I will not stay ignorant for very long. Curiosity will get the better of me and in a while I will know and permanently remember so much more than the debate over the Oxford Comma. I guess I will feel it is my duty, as someone who has self-declared the love of words. I don't imagine it will change much about my writing process, it won't stop me from reading each word aloud and trying to listen to the sounds and rhythm they make as I say them. I will still imagine that they are not pegged down to paper, or bound by grammatical device, rather my goal is to hear them as captivating things or at the very least interesting. I have a lot to learn about this art and will make many mistakes but I think I will always seek to keep the bond between the spoken and written word alive.