Sunday, January 15, 2023
Ignorance of Grammatical Terminology
Theodore Roosevelt, letter to Francis Parkman (July 13, 1889):
Despite their ignorance of grammatical terminology, both Roosevelt and King are better writers by far than I am.
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I am not quite sure how the Kentuckians and Tenneseeans will take my book; they have the dreadful habit of always writing of themselves in the superlative tense.Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000), p. 93:
You should avoid the passive tense.The superlative is a degree, not a tense. The passive is a voice, not a tense.
[....]
I won't say there's no place for the passive tense.
Despite their ignorance of grammatical terminology, both Roosevelt and King are better writers by far than I am.
Labels: typographical and other errors
