Friday, October 14, 2005
“On Language” 10/5: The Errors of ‘Elements’
Linguist throws the book at gurus
‘On Language‘
Chicago Tribune
October 5, 2005
By Nathan Bierma
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Geoffrey Pullum, linguist and co-author of “The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language” (Cambridge University Press, $160) and “A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar” (Cambridge University Press, $29.99) ... was none too happy to hear about “Elements of Style Illustrated.”
“There is an ILLUSTRATED edition of `The Elements of Style’ coming out?” he replied by e-mail. “Oh, how pathetic, how horrible.” ...
Pullum says other rules in “Elements,” such as the book’s bans on beginning a sentence with “however” and using “hopefully” to mean “we hope that . . . ” also go against the grain of English. To see how unnatural the rules of “Elements” can be, Pullum says, look at White’s own fiction (which Pullum praises for its elegance).
White goes only two paragraphs of “Stuart Little” before breaking his rule that only the word “that,” not “which,” can introduce a clause not enclosed by commas…