Stein: Passionate About Punctuation
Did you know that the computers of the C.I.A. use some form of sentence diagramming in order to sort through emails and the like?
The really cool artwork below is a 2007 installation at the Steven Wolf Fine Arts Gallery of Nicholas Knight’s Sentences:
I’ve been playing with sentence diagramming the last few months. It’s even more fun than Sudoku. Now, instead of doing a couple Sudokus at bedtime, I diagram a couple sentences. There’s even a program that will let you diagram sentences: SenDraw
I did not understand grammar when it was explained to me. I got A’s, but I truly didn’t understand it until I took German.
Now I can’t get enough of sentence diagramming. It’s beautiful! I had no idea how cool it was!
And I’m really not crazy! Gertrude Stein said:
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences. I like the feeling the everlasting feeling of sentences as they diagram themselves."
She wrote like she was diagramming a sentence, LOL! Once you get the whole diagramming-sentence obsession, her prose makes a little more sense.
Y’all know how passionate I can get about punctuation. It’s so beautiful! It can say so much! It can also do much damage, LOL. I am not real fond of comma-ridden prose.
Stein hates commas passionately. I wish she were just a little more fond of them, LOL. Even I have a nagging desire to insert commas in her prose!
Commas are servile and have no life of their own... what does a comma do, a comma does nothing but make easy a thing that if you like it enough is easy enough without the comma.
She uses them instead of question marks, though, because she hates them even more! She says the question mark looks like "a brand on cattle."
I’m never going to get that image out of my head!
But she was passionate about grammar, and I think that's cool. Grammar and punctuation are all part of the beauty that is the written word.
So how do you feel about punctuation? Grammar? Diagramming sentences? Ever think a question mark looks odd? And what do you think Stein would think of the way we use punctuation today? :-) ;-) :-p
32 bonus scribbles:
Punctuation can stifle my writing at times. I especially get stuck on semi-colons. I think they look great like this ;) though. ;) lol
I'm going to check out the sentence diagramming link. Last time I did one was in fifth grade, back in the Jurassic age. ;)
I get like, stuck you know, on the proper usage of commas.
Also have that problem with semi-colons; colons; question marks paired with exclamation points; and periods....
I wish there weren't rules about when to use commas. We can hear commas in our mind. At least I do. I don't know if they're right, but they sound right to me.
I think you need chocolate. Step away from the diagramming pencil.
Not only chocolate but Prozac! I hate you. Now I know how everyone who laughingly complains about my amusing time wasters feels. And I'm ripping you off for a post to share the pain!
I've never diagrammed a sentence. (I can't believe I'm admitting that in public.) Do I have to hit myself over the head with my laptop as penance?
I got all A's in grade school English, too. Now I can't figure out how and when to use a colon or semi-colon. As for commas, I use them a lot, and then I delete them afterward.
And then I put them back.
And then I delete them.
Ad nauseum.
I don't know what diagramming a sentence means. Could you tell us? Is it too in-depth a thing for a blog post?
Or... maybe that's why you gave us the link...
Just had that thought. ;)
I took one class of sentence diagramming as an English major, and that was enough :-).
Ah yes, I remember sentence diagramming.... luckily I was good at it, because my kids get to do it in school now... but they don't do it quite the same way. They do a story web and they do these plot circles (wonder if there's aliens involved there)
They still have to know the essentials that diagramming teaches you, though.
I, myself, love commas. You can hear the pauses and rhythm of the language with commas. I use too many semi-colons, though, and it's a sure sign I need to simplify my sentences.
I've been wondering lately HOW to diagram sentences. Like you, I always did well in English and with grammar, but I can't remember how to do it.
Maybe an example?
I agree with, Kath, and, Edie, and Charles; and for what it's worth, I think writtenwyrdd might have something with the Prozac suggestion...
German and French taught me to really understand grammar, too. And seeing as I majored in them, thinking grammatically is like breathing to me. I don't need to do the diagrams; I can feel the bones of the sentence as is.
I love beautifully constructed, properly punctuated sentences, the way an architect appreciates a building where everything is put together just right. And if that sentence is made of marvellous words on top of it all... ahh. Like a gourmet meal.
Oh, Kath, I LOVE semi-colons! They're the best! And em-dashes! Orgasmic!
LOL, Georgie! Commas are what got me started on my road to obsession with punctuation.
LOL, Edie! That was, originally, the ONLY rule about commas. Now, not even the "experts" agree on the rules of comma usage. Style serves clarity first, always!
Charles, I ALWAYS need chocolate!
LOL, Written! I wonder if they have chocolate-covered Prozac? Robin? Do they? I think the person who invented it would make a fortune!
Oh, no, Robin! But it is fun. Kinda like Sudoku!
Hah! Bevie, I do the exact same thing! Ad nauseum!
Oh, Janna, really?! Okay, definitely! Give me a week. :-)
A whole class, Jewel? How fun! Although I get your pain. I remember there was this class called Shenkerian Analysis. It was a bit like diagramming sentences, except... much more annoying!
Yummy, Merry! I use way too many semi-colons, too. I think they are beautiful. They're my favorite punctuation mark, followed by the colon and the em-dash. Then the period, the comma, and the rest.
Yummy. :-)
Okay, Melanie, you got it! Next week, I promise!
LOL, Lainey! I think she does, too! :-)
Oh, Janet, and in German, everything is so orderly! I love it! Everything makes sense! It is beautiful!
Semicolons are simple. There are two proper ways to use them.
First, suppose you have a list of complicated items, where some items in the list might have imbedded commas. Set off the list with a colon, then use semicolons to separate the items --
Things To Take Camping: dry towels; a canvas tent; firewood, tender and matches; cookware; fishing tackle, poles, line and hooks; snake bite kit and other health aids; food and water; whatever else you might need.
Second, suppose you need to link two complete sentences that are very closely related in meaning. Maybe one is an example of the other, or explains the other in some way. These have to be complete sentences, where a period would work, but you want them closer than that. You can connect them with a semicolon --
Bill had forgotten both the food and the matches; he was an incompetent camper.
As far as foreign language teaching grammar -- it probably isn't until they have to study a foreign language that most English-speaking people understand the reason that grammar exists. The grammar of English is spotty at best, filled with silly exceptions and special cases. Like substituting the past tense of "wend" whenever you need the past tense of "go".
I go.. I went..
Dal Jeanis, that's a great explanation. I found a style book that had a third way... and I have to tell you, it's odd and I've never seen it before. Although, since then, I've seen it done a few times. Rarely.
It suggested that you can use a semi-colon to replace repeating verbs. Something like:
The boy aimed for a kiss; the girl, for a getaway.
(Bad example. I'm not good at coming up with examples!)
Ah, yes. In that case, the sentences are so closely related that one uses parts of the other to make itself complete.
I agree that I never really understood English until I studied a second language. For me, it was Spanish. And like you, I love diagramming, and find it a very valuable skill, especially as an editor. But, you really can't make a sound argument that you're not crazy by comparing yourself to Gertrude Stein. :)
LOL, you're right! I suppose I can't, LOL. Well, then, at least I can make the argument that I'm not alone in my craziness!
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