Some rules are made to be broken

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell

And, it seems I break most of them most of the time.

There are two that plagues me like little devils. They pop up in my writing like annoying toddlers and no matter how many times I rearrange them into the proper order, if I turn my back they’ll break out of line. 

But, as my critique partner and anyone else who knows me will tell you, I write like I talk.  And proper is not it. Oops, broke two in one tiny paragraph. I need to get the broom and sweep up a conjunction and stranded preposition. 

broken_letters

Conjunctions plague me as do prepositions.

Too bad I talk as I write. I think it’s more important to connect with the reader than to write every sentence grammatically correct. Now this is just my personal opinion. As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m no expert. 

Reading something that sounds stilted and phony pulls me out of the story. 

You wouldn’t ask your spouse, “Honey, what were you talking about on the phone?” No you’d be probably say something more along the lines of, “Honey, what was that about?” Nor would I.

If the word fits the scene then is it okay to break a grammar rule? 

What do y’all think? 

Do you think it’s okay to begin a sentence with a conjunction, or to end a sentence with a preposition?

As you can read in the following article written by . Many famous authors have stranded or dangled a preposition to no ill effect. 

Click and read the entire article and see if there are times when it’s okay to break a few rules.

Can you end a sentence with a preposition?

I’m curious.

Is there a grammar rule that you stumble over?

Which one?

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31 thoughts on “Some rules are made to be broken”

    1. Well, damned if I know. 3.3% seems like a lot of “ands.” Someone once told me, “When in doubt, leave it out.” Some of the word count, highlight, programs are useful for culling out words. But as to your question, “How much is too much?” I’m not sure if there is a hard fast rule. Readers?

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      1. I removed 18, but then the reading sounded stilted. The idea is to use compact language. Using replacements for ‘and’ doesn’t get the job done. I’d be interested if anyone has anything to add. It was a fluke I checked the ‘and’ word. Shock. Dismay. Horror. 😀

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        2. Passages read better if there’s a variety of sentence lengths and sentence structures. Can you redesign a couple of the compound sentences ( “and ” with 2 independent clauses) to create a complex sentence? (Using subordinating conjunctions to form an independent clause with a dependent clause) Or perhaps try combining ideas in to once sentence with appositives?
          If it’s dialogue, maybe not. Try short sentences among compound ones?
          Sentence structure has to work with the story. Pacing creates suspense, mood, as well as realistic conversations.
          Always read passages out loud. Sometimes your ear/another’s ear can lead you to a solution.
          As far as a quota? You have to go with what works no matter what?

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