Introduction

True confession: I have a thing about grammar. This year for my birthday I got not just one, but two copies of Strunk and White's classic grammar text, Elements of Style, and a couple more terrific books on words and language, from friends who knew about my grammar thing. It occurred to me this summer that I could share my love (some people would call it an obsession) for grammar without ramming it down people's throats, just by writing something every week and letting people read it if they wanted to. So I've been working on a list of topics for a blog on common mistakes that people make in writing.

But why should we use correct grammar in the first place? I hear people say that it doesn't really matter whether it's right or not, just as long as folks understand what you mean. They say that language should evolve with the times, that it should be flexible and modern, not rigid and stuck in the past. They say that people don't care anymore about a bunch of stupid rules, that we should be concentrating on the content, not the trivial details, of what we write. In some ways, that point of view is hard to argue with, since we all want to be liberal and open-minded, but there are also a lot of people who, while they may fall back on that argument now and then (I've done it too), deep down inside want to "get it right" when they write. If you're one of those folks, this blog is for you!