For many new and emerging writers mention of grammar conjures up suppressed memories of stuffy classrooms filled with children labouring over the likes of compound sentences, modifiers, prepositions and passive voices. Yet, as we start to write for pleasure, and to share our words with others, it’s important to turn our attention to how we can ensure our readers understand what we are trying to say.
Clarity is not the only thing grammar gives us. In the words of Joan Didion, ‘Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power.’ So, with an antenna up for how we might use ‘rules’ to express ourselves, we can start to see what grammar offers us in terms of possibilities for creative thought, and this gives us a chance to embrace it, rather than be bored or intimidated by it.
As a child of the ‘war on grammar’ generation of the 1960s where ‘creativity’ and a process of ‘subconscious osmosis’ replaced formal rule-based learning, I felt disadvantaged when I started writing fiction seriously. But by reading stories widely, and with a grammar and style book at my elbow, I gradually learned to notice the gaps in my understanding and began to practice in my writing what I needed to know, when I needed it. When the story required it.
At the risk of sounding nerdy I now understand how writers might even be thrilled by the power of grammar. Isaac Babel declares, ‘No iron can pierce the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time.’
As writers we are falling in love with new words and ideas every day and I have grown to enjoy the beauty and vivid nature of the language of grammar itself that suggests something extraordinary is occurring amongst our words – dangling participles, comma splices, ellipses, slashes, apostrophes.
Grammar books can sometimes be daunting and dull, but we don’t need to learn everything. By going to a bookshop and choosing a book that personally appeals we can start to focus on what grammar we as individuals need, and understanding can come, bit by bit.
However, writers bend and break rules. Bernadine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other) and Chales Bukowski (Too Sensitive) both play with the capital letter, Paul Lynch writes without paragraphs (Prophet Song), while Lucy Ellman’s Ducks, Newburyport single sentence steam-of-consciousness novel dispenses with punctuation altogether.
Yet Robert Graves reminds us: ‘Every English poet should master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them.’
One small grammatical change can alter meaning, time, flow and rhythm, and for me this quality is what makes attention to grammar and punctuation such an enduring pleasure as I continue to explore new ways to write stories.
If you are interested in a discussion on the static yet changing world of grammar – your grammar, your narrator’s grammar, your characters’ grammar as they speak, and wish to practice some common grammar and punctuation challenges faced by creative writers, please join me for the CWP online workshop on Saturday 30th January 2027. Tickets cost £49.99 including VAT and you can book your place here: https://events.humanitix.com/grammar-workshop