The document discusses three main ideas: 1) Writing should showcase the writer's experiences and ideas rather than just filling space. Stories are an effective way to engage readers. 2) Many English usage rules were invented by Lindley Murray in the 18th century without linguistic expertise, and some may not withstand scrutiny. 3) Critical thinking is needed when evaluating English usage rather than relying on rules from teachers. Usage changes over time, and rules from different fields like science may not apply to everyday writing.

1. WHAT YOUR ENGLISH
TEACHER DIDN’T TELL
YOU
Jean Reynolds, Ph.D.

2. I’ve had a long and varied career as an English
teacher, editor, consultant, and writer.
Colleagues, clients, professors, and publishers
have taught me a lot—and so have my students.

3. A few years ago I started reflecting on all the
things I wished my teachers had told me…
…and the many
things I wished I’d
told my own
students.

4. SHOWCASE
YOURSELF
THROUGH YOUR
WRITING

5. 1. Writing is all about
showcasing yourself.
2. English usage was
invented by fallible
human beings.
3. We need to apply critical
thinking to English
usage.
Today I’m going to focus on three ideas:

6. 1. Writing is all about showcasing yourself: Your
experiences, knowledge, and ideas.

7. Instead of thinking about using words to fill a
piece of paper or a computer screen…

8. …think about putting yourself, your ideas, and
your experiences onstage.

9. Never tell readers what they already know.

10. Telling stories is an effective way to get your
readers involved.

11. Here’s a useful question to ask yourself: “How
long will it take my readers to reach my first
interesting word?”

12. Here are things I’ve learned during my
professional writing career about…
…research Showcase your research
process by mentioning
by mentioning recent
publications about your
topic and notable
authorities in the field.

13. …emphasis
Put your strongest
example in the last
sentence in a paragraph,
and your strongest
supporting idea in the
penultimate paragraph.

14. …word choices
Professional writers
never use last, last but
not least, or finally.
Choose climactic words
and expressions like
best, most important,
most seriously.

15. 2. Although
many people like
to believe in the
near-divine origin
of English usage
rules…

16. …much of it was invented by fallible human
beings operating under false assumptions.
The most important figure
in the history of English
usage was an 18th-century
attorney named Lindley
Murray.

17. Murray was a self-appointed expert who had no
background in linguistics.
He wrote a grammar
book based on rules he
often invented himself.
His book became an
international
bestseller.

18. Some language experts say we’re stuck with
the mess that Murray left for us.
Other experts favor
discarding some of
the rules he made up.

19. Many people mistakenly believe that
punctuation was invented by teachers and
writers to make sentences easier to read and
understand.
Actually punctuation
was invented by
printers…

20. …as an aid to elocution.

21. Schoolchildren were taught to punctuate
according to the pauses in a sentence, not the
syntax.
a comma = 1 count
a semicolon = 2 counts
a colon = 3 counts
a period = 4 counts

22. Punctuation practices varied widely over the
centuries.
Here’s page 1 from the
first edition of Jane
Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice.
Notice the commas and
the space behind the
quotation marks.

23. Some of the “unchangeable truths” we’ve been
taught don’t stand up to close scrutiny.

24. You may remember learning that it’s incorrect to
say “It’s me” because the verb to be takes the
nominative case.

25. So how come nobody told the French about this?

26. And you may have been taught that double negatives
are wrong because two negatives make a positive.

27. But people who speak Spanish, Russian, Persian,
Italian, and Portuguese often use double
negatives in formal writing.
Would you say that
people from those
countries are poor
mathematicians?

28. Old English also used
double negatives for
emphasis in formal
writing.

29. 3. We need to apply critical thinking to English
usage.
Solving a usage problem
isn’t enough: We also
need to be aware of the
process that led us to the
answer.

30. I’m very aware of usage issues – and the importance
of critical-thinking skills – because I serve on the
editorial board for a scholarly journal.

32. How do you make decisions about English
usage?
“A rule is a rule, damn it.”
“My third-grade teacher said
so.”
“My high school English
teacher said so.”
“I look at what my resources
have to say about it.”
“I trust Strunk and White.”
“I use Google to see what
other writers are doing.”
“I go with the flow.”

33. If you were an editor, how would you resolve a
usage issue?
“A rule is a rule, damn it.”
“My third-grade teacher said
so.”
“My high school English
teacher said so.”
✓✓ “I look at what my
resources have to say about
it.”
✓“I trust Strunk and White.”
✓“I use Google to see what
other writers are doing.”
✓“I go with the flow.”

34. Now let’s turn to the usage quiz I handed out
earlier.
What approach did you use for dealing with the
usage issues in these sentences?

35. 1. The teen pregnancy rate is likely to escalate
in the next five years.

36. Question: Should we allow new words into the
English language?
The teen pregnancy rate is likely to escalate in
the next five years.

37. In the 1960s, the American Heritage Dictionary
rejected escalate and many other made-up
words that were just coming into English.
Other rejected terms in
1960 included downsize,
senior citizen, multi-
tasking, and outsource.

38. 2. We’re delighted that ten people
volunteered to help with our upcoming
Halloween program.

39. Question: Should experts make usage rules for
the rest of us?
2. We’re delighted that ten people persons
volunteered to help with our upcoming
Halloween program.

40. We’re delighted that ten people persons
volunteered to help with our Halloween
program.

41. Question: Is it ok for punctuation to change
over time?
We’re delighted that ten people volunteered to
help with our upcoming Halloween program.

42. When I went to school in the 1950s,
Hallowe’en still had an apostrophe…

43. …and so did the plural form of decades: 1950’s.

44. And let’s not forget that in the 1960s,
upcoming was banned as a sloppy made-up
word.
2. We’re delighted that ten people
volunteered to help with our upcoming
approaching Halloween program.

45. 3. The news spread
quickly about John
winning the golf
tournament.

46. Question: Is it still an error if many educated
people don’t notice it?
The news spread quickly about John’s
winning the golf tournament.
How many people know (and care!) that
gerundives require possessives?

47. 4. Lying beneath the star-filled sky with
Joe, it seemed that our love would last
forever.

48. Question: What about indefinite pronoun
references?
4. Lying beneath the
star-filled sky with Joe,
it seemed that our
love would last
forever.

49. It wasn’t lying beneath the sky with Joe— I was.
Lying beneath the star-
filled sky with Joe, it
seemed that our love
would last forever.
Lying beneath the star-
filled sky with Joe, I
thought our love would
last forever.

50. 5. A low-maintenance shrub that’s ideal for
our climate, crape myrtle’s blossoms
beautify many local gardens.

51. Blossoms aren’t the same as a shrub.
5. A low-maintenance
shrub that’s ideal for our
climate, crape myrtle’s
blossoms beautify many
local gardens.
A low-maintenance shrub
that’s ideal for our
climate, crape myrtle has
blossoms that beautify
many local gardens.

52. 6. Neon tetras, blue gouramis, and other
fish are thriving in my new aquarium.

53. Question: Do you have to employ scientific
language rules in everyday writing?
6. Neon tetras, blue
gouramis, and other fish
fishes are thriving in my
new aquarium.

54. 7. The interfaith committee is comprised of a
minister, a rabbi, a priest, and an imam.

55. If you’re strict about English usage, you can’t
combine comprise with of.
(Comprises means “includes.”)
7. The interfaith committee is comprised of
comprises a minister, a rabbi, a priest, and an
imam.

56. 8. Personal testimony: I graduated from a
Catholic college in 1967. We weren’t allowed to
use dashes.

57. Question: What’s more important – correct use
of antecedents, or lively writing?
8. Personal testimony: I graduated from a
Catholic college in 1967. We weren’t allowed to
use dashes.
8. Personal testimony: I graduated from a
Catholic college in 1967. We students weren’t
allowed to use dashes.

58. What about urban legends?
Suppose your next-door neighbor believes that I
is always more correct than me.
“Grandma loved the
picture of you and I
from our trip.”

59. What’s your position?
“A rule is a rule, damn it!”
Or do you think critically when someone tries
to push a usage rule on you?
“Grandma loved the
picture of you and I me
from our trip.”

60. What if that same neighbor insists that you can’t
start a sentence with and or but—even though no
such rule has ever been found in any grammar
book?

61. Again: Is a rule a rule just because someone
believes it?
“It is altogether fitting
and proper that we
should do this. But in a
larger sense, we cannot
dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot
hallow this ground.”

62. If you were an editor, what would you do?
“A rule is a rule, damn it.”
“My third-grade teacher said
so.”
“My high school English
teacher said so.”
“I look at what my resources
have to say about it.”
“I trust Strunk and White.”
“I use Google to see what
other writers are doing.”
“I go with the flow.”