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My interest in sentence diagramming (an activity I recall adoring as a girl) was renewed by the need to teach grammar to a student I tutor. Florey's book was recommended to me by another English teacher, and it was a pleasure to read. Florey's narrative voice is charming; her excitement about English and proper grammar pour from the pages. The chapter "Poetry & Grammar" was my favorite. In it, Florey examines (yes, diagrams) sentences from famous authors such as Gertrude Stein (she claims Gertrude Stein must not be called simply "Stein"), Hemingway, James, and Fitzgerald. She poses the question in this chapter, and throughout: does skill at diagramming, and hence prowess over grammar, make one a better writer? Ultimately, she reaches the same conclusion I have reached in my ten years of teaching. Strength in grammar does not make one a better writer, but a better editor. Strength in grammar helps a writer to craft sentences that are clear and elegant, which makes them easier to read. Since writing is ultimately about communication (do we writers not, after all, want our readers to bend their wills to ours? Do we not, after all, want them to see what we see and think the way we think?), the ability to write correct and cogent sentences, as well as the ability to bend and break rules for deliberate effect is vital. Diagramming sentences, while it does not really do much to teach writing, may help writers to build confidence in their ability to use English in a way that will not sound, as David Foster Wallace complained, like a "Stradivarius hammering nails."

2020-02-01 13:28