Styling Culture (1)—Revise

Click here to read the introduction to the Round and Square series "Styling Culture." 

[a] Tales of Yore  RF

In the next few weeks I will be posting the text for a "volume" that I have been distributing for the last fifteen years. Back in 1997, I handed out a two-page set of instructions that I called "Rob's Style Sheet." I quickly learned that it could be a useful teaching tool, allowing me to describe the practicalities and esoterica surrounding grammar and style in the higher education classroom (and beyond). It also became apparent that it could be a useful tool for writing comments on student papers. Instead of trying to explain in the margins of a paper that s/he was using "number" in problematic ways (we'll get to that), I could write "#19," and have her know exactly what I mean. The most impressive students learned the material very well, and some of them have already gone on to be successful writers—in and beyond academia and the corporate world.

I will be posting the manuscript that I have provisionally entitled Styling Culture on Round and Square during August and September. As you will quickly see, it is meant to be a grammar book for the anthropologist of American English. It has its prescriptive elements, to be sure (this is all explained in the introduction to the series), but it is meant far more powerfully to be a genuinely useful guide to the culture wars surrounding grammar and usage. In particular, I have great venom for both the annoying critics who always seem to be correcting people and (this is important) for the "good guys" who tell you that it doesn't matter. They're both wrong, and they will hurt you if you listen to them. I'm here to help you, so read on. 

1—Write, Reflect, Revise (Repeat)

All good writing is rewriting. Write good.                       

All good writing is rewriting. Write well.

***  ***

Really, not much more needs to be said (but I will, anyway). Ever since I began teaching two decades ago, I have repeated these phrases—"All good reading is rereading; all good writing is rewriting." Period. There is a reason that this item is first in my style guide. It is the foundation for everything else.

NEXT
Write Serious (Formal, Academic) Prose

This is not as onerous as it sounds, and it in no way gives the writer permission to slather a text with jargon and incomprehensibility. To see what I mean, check out Friday's post.