Question: Grammar issues, any tips?

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

I usually try to be careful but it seems there is something fundamentally wrong in my brain. I suppose verbal and online messages put less emphasis on correct grammar, for better or worse, so I don't notice them on daily basis. At least, I haven't been chased by a grammar nazis on the street, as of yet.

Writing, obviously, is a different medium. I have taken grammar courses at school, after school, and even at home. I even read several grammar books for pleasure. Perhaps, pleasure is a bit far fetched.

Last year, I took a course at a continuing education program and got 90%. (This was a summer session, by the way. 40+ hours long) The mark doesn't mean much but the instructor thought I was doing alright. So I rekindled a tiny hope.

Alas, why is it that I can't seem to communicate with my readers? How bad is my grammar? Let's say it's bad enough to confuses readers and make them want to stop reading after page 2. That's on a short story with probably only few more pages to go.

If anyone had a serious issues with grammar, and overcame it, I'd like to know how you did it. Thanks.

Comments

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

I am thinking of this great application idea.. haha. Not sure whether I will detour from my writing but I thought perhaps I should make an application where you open the 'text' version of a story.

Then the program either randomly selects a sentence (but go through them all) or select from the bottom to top.

Then it show the sentence on the screen. And only that sentence. Perhaps it should highlight 'verb' as well.

The goal would be for the user to NOT change the meaning, as it may disrupt the flow, but make the sentence clear and, well, grammarically correct.

Is there any such applications? Hmm... I wonder how long it will take me to code this. A week I think...to perfect it in C# or C... hmm... or javascript even.

[wylde-writer.livejournal.com]

while it should be possible to parse out basic grammar structures in that manner,, I don't think it's possible to (quickly) code a prog that picks apart more complex structures and things that involve judgment calls and subtle rules of usage.

In the example of my earlier post, for instance, in the sentence with the unclear use of pronouns: grammatically, there's nothing wrong with that sentence, so a program that analyses on that basis alone wouldn't spot anything wrong there. Even whether or not the pronoun definitions are unclear to some extent depends on the context of the preceding sentences. Programs are less good at contextual assessment of that sort.

Also, ultimately for one's own writing, it's critical to develop an internal feel for the language, to have that in one's head and know internally what "sounds right". The only way to get there, I think, is to do that kind of sentence analysis by one's self, the old fashioned way.

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I did manage to waste an hour last night but stopped after I realized the same thing.

Better that I 'learn,' than to teach a program. :)