Words Mean Things

Writing courses I teach all begin with a discussion of Wallace?s essay, ?Tense Present,? and two of its key terms: Standard Written English and the Democratic Spirit, ?one that combines rigor and humility, i.e., passionate conviction plus sedulous respect for the convictions of others.? I also highlight Wallace?s argument about the ?very weird and complicated relationship between Authority and Democracy in what we as a culture have decided is English,? a relationship that makes instructing people in Standard Written English equally weird and complicated. Given both its utility and also the basic unfairness behind the fact that Standard Written English is ?an instrument of political power and class division and racial discrimination and all manner of social inequity,? as Wallace says, how one makes a ?pro-SWE argument? is always just as important as the points of usage one?s arguing for. (It?s OK to end a sentence with a preposition.) Wallace, for one, admits to having problems always being particularly well-reasoned or calm; at one point he declares a descriptivist?s claim ?so stupid it practically drools.? In his Dictionary, though, Garner has been rigorous and humble in a way that makes you both trust and like him. Seeing this, Wallace discovers something more?namely, Garner?s genius.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=8de68ef24629491919630ef27da6e935

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