Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Errors

Overall, the article made some very good points when it came to writing errors. Errors in the English language are so prevelant, it's impossible not to make mistakes, even when you are a well-known author. As long as the mistakes don't distract from the main intention of the piece, you, as the audience wouldn't even question the so-called mistake at hand. The truth is, writing in general is so subjective, that it doesn't really matter what mistakes are made. Writing is an art form that should be left up to the writer to break said guidlines. Rules are made to be broken, especially for the creative spirit. And as pointed out, some of the greatest authors of all time never really followed all the rules of writing. I personally find bad grammar irritating, but if it doesn't affect the overall themes of the piece, I can accept it. Writing, like many things should be judged on content, and nothing more. As long the author conveys their message effectively, then all the rest should be secondary.

1 comment:

  1. Williams does point to the subjective nature of error, but I don't know if he'd go quite this far:

    >>Writing, like many things should be judged on content, and nothing more<<

    I agree with this - mostly - but there are cases where errors can overwhelm the content, making the writing virtually unintelligble. And certain types of writing (a cover letter for a job, an academic essay) require greater attention to error-free prose. Even then, though, if no one notices the error, how big of a faux pas was it?

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