Somewhere along the way, I think, every book-lover turns into a stickler for correct grammar. I certainly did.
It seems like I day-dreamed through grammar classes at school, because I hardly remember anything from then. Even now, I just cannot recall the nuances and intricacies of participles and clauses and the like; I am not sure that off the top of my head, I can even tell you what they mean. Yet, I guess I picked up correct grammar from all the reading I've done over the years, and I get all squirmy when I come across bad grammar--if it is in a place where it doesn't belong.
Some friends tell me that they spellcheck and proofread their emails before sending them to me--and that embarrasses me. But honestly, I don't judge like that. I judge only when people who call themselves writers make horrendous grammar mistakes. After all, it is not like I'm perfect myself!
I'm not so good at punctuation. Lately, I've tried to learn, and I'm better at it, but I still need to go running to a reference website occasionally.
Anyway, what has come out of all this, and out of reviewing and editing stories for friends, is that I realized I'd become a pretty decent copy-editor. And so, I applied and got myself a voluntary position at Kitaab as a copy-editor. I've started editing work for them already, and I'm enjoying this role.
It seems like I day-dreamed through grammar classes at school, because I hardly remember anything from then. Even now, I just cannot recall the nuances and intricacies of participles and clauses and the like; I am not sure that off the top of my head, I can even tell you what they mean. Yet, I guess I picked up correct grammar from all the reading I've done over the years, and I get all squirmy when I come across bad grammar--if it is in a place where it doesn't belong.
Some friends tell me that they spellcheck and proofread their emails before sending them to me--and that embarrasses me. But honestly, I don't judge like that. I judge only when people who call themselves writers make horrendous grammar mistakes. After all, it is not like I'm perfect myself!
I'm not so good at punctuation. Lately, I've tried to learn, and I'm better at it, but I still need to go running to a reference website occasionally.
Anyway, what has come out of all this, and out of reviewing and editing stories for friends, is that I realized I'd become a pretty decent copy-editor. And so, I applied and got myself a voluntary position at Kitaab as a copy-editor. I've started editing work for them already, and I'm enjoying this role.
5 comments:
Well done and congratulations!
Congrats Shruthi! By the way, have I missed reading some article of yours? I don't remember having read the article you have written for Brainwave magazine.
Thank you!
Radhika, that is to-be-published. I'd written "forthcoming" in my bio, but I guess they edited that out for brevity.
Huge congrats and this is going to be just perfect!
Congratulations!!!!
As for the notion of 'grammar' is concerned, I am not sure what exactly you mean by 'grammar'. Expressing oneself in writing does not require explicit knowledge of what we consider as 'grammar'....
There are so many things that go into written language, and some basic knowledge of English structure is good enough to do that....you don't have to be very well versed in all aspects of English structure. For example, how many 'adjuncts' in a sentence is considered acceptable or desirable? one, two, four, ten? Even if you don't know this, you can still express yourself very well like you do most of the time...lol
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