I just learned a new grammatical term: synesis. You can find definitions of it here or here. When a sentence does not have subject/verb or noun/pronoun agreement, but the sentence is still correct because the words chosen fit its sense, that is a synesis. An example from the KJV of the Bible is Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
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Comments
Does that mean I can get away with saying "someone and their dog"?
Posted by: Jeremy Stein on Sunday, October 23, 2005
What is correct grammar? We do not have an academy of English language and grammar. Considering that, correct grammar is whatever we define it as. Of course, it is impossible to achieve anything close to universal agreement on some aspects such as split infinitives and the word 'they' with singular antecedents. If you prefer using great writers as a standard (Milton, Shakespeare, Austen), then using they/their with singular antecedents is allowable. I would guess that some would disagree.
Posted by: CJ Costello on Sunday, October 23, 2005
I just realized that my name had been dragged into this sordid grammatical affair. Were you wondering if I considered Austen one of the "great writers"? :)
Posted by: Tara Stein on Monday, October 31, 2005
No, I was guessing that you would prefer prescriptive grammar rules to the more fuzzy standard of "What Would Jane Do?"
So do you consider Austen one of the great English writers?
Posted by: CJ Costello on Friday, November 4, 2005
Hm. I think I don't feel well qualified to answer that. I guess I would have assumed that there were enough great ones out there with whom I have not yet come in contact to keep her out of the top ten, at the very least.
Posted by: Tara Stein on Sunday, November 6, 2005
If you have not come into contact with them, I would question how great they are. I suppose this also depends on how you define greatness for writers. In my definition, enduring popularity and impact on culture play a role. Given the original context of this post, I would also restrict this to 16th to early 19th century writers since this corresponds to the development of the modern English that we speak.
Austen's works are certainly not deep philosophical works like those of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. They are still being read, and I would guess that Pride and Prejudice is probably one of the most read English novels.
I guess I am also restricting this to novelists and playwrights so that removes the likes of Keats and Byron from consideration. (Poetry is probably not a good source for defining grammar.)
Not in any particular order: Shakespeare, Milton, Austen, Sir Walter Scott, Swift, Defoe, Oscar Wilde, Bunyan. If we extend to late 19th century: Dickens, Brontes, Eliot, Trollope, Stevenson, Hardy. Any others should be added? Maybe Thackeray...I guess I left out American authors: James, Melville, Twain, and Hawthorne. I'd still put Austen in the top ten.
Posted by: CJ Costello on Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Of course Austen is in the top ten!
Posted by: shannon Costello on Saturday, November 12, 2005