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Nov 16, 2020 · Scanning the Table of Contents, the reader finds essays categorized under seven subject headings: Grammar to Take Life in Hand; Grammar for Creative Passivity; Grammar for Belonging; Grammar for Freedom; Grammar for Morale; Grammar for Mindfulness; and Grammar for The End.
- (609)
- Kindle Edition
- Lawrence Weinstein
Jan 9, 2021 · The book is not a mere refresher in formal grammar. It illustrates how certain rules of grammar mirror the rules of life, AND how subtle changes in the ways we express ourselves verbally can evoke confidence, intention, mindfulness, camaraderie, defense, and even self-esteem.
Nov 20, 2020 · We can now add to the list of entertaining and accessible books on grammar Lawrence Weinstein’s “Grammar for a Full Life.” Weinstein taught writing at Harvard University from 1973 to 1983, during which time he co-founded Harvard’s Writing Center.
May 30, 2023 · As a result, this book is organized by emotional goals: writing and grammar to take life in hand, be humble, promote belonging, free one’s self, boost one’s morale, be mindful, and even to deal with the inevitability of death.
- Passive vs Active Tense
- Use What Works
- Passive Voice to Avoid blame.
- Ellipsis: Assuming Your Audience Knows The Rest
- E-Prime
- “But” Cuts Both Ways
- Ownership
- The Word “Will”
- Other Great Lines from The Book
Using the passive tense takes away your agency, or at a minimum, questions it. For example “I am being kept on hold with the credit card company” is passive. Using the active tense takes your power back and reduces the victim-ness: “I’ve been holding for ten minutes now”. The situation is the same in both. The power you own is very different.
In short, if you break the rules of things like comma placement and it helps you get your needed effect – do it. (This chapter comes early in the book, almost thumbing his nose at the grammar sticklers). But the idea he presents (like most of the ideas in the book) is an allegory to life.
“Mistakes were made” is far different than “We made some mistakes”. For the Eureka Room, I could use avoidance technique for unreliable narrators to humorously deny ownership of things that are clearly their fault.
The ellipsis essentially means, “it goes without saying”. Other than the literal “…” there is the unspoken ellipsis. Things like “Even my sister came to the party” to someone that doesn’t know your sister still gives them an idea about the sister. And it makes them feel more connected to you and “in on it”. It’s like you even are bonded with the si...
(This is D. David Bourland, Jr.’s invention). The idea is to strip the english language of the following words: be, been, am, are, is, was, and were. These words are the verbal equivalent of the “=” sign. Removing them from the language removes false equations that get us into numerous problems, not the least of which is identity issues. “I am a ba...
When I say “I want to go for a run but it’s raining” both things are true: I want to go for a run and it is raining. But if I swap the two sides around the but and write the same two true things like this: “It’s raining, but I want to go for a run”, it takes on a different tone and implication. Both of these are still true but somehow placing the p...
Similar to the E-prime situation, you can drop the word “my” or “mine” and “our” and “ours” to get a different view of life. It’s all impermanent but we don’t like to think that way: “My car” becomes “The car I drive”. “My house” becomes “The house I live in”. Sounds strange, right? Instead of extending your being into these objects, as if you migh...
When speaking of the future, the word “will” (as in “I will go to the store”) used to be more related to “willing something to be done”. As in using your own power. Today we hear it mean “it’s as good as done”, but of course it is not. The future is not happened. We must apply our will to make it happen. If we are more mindful that the future happe...
I’m not going to go into detail on all the other ideas in the book, but here’s a few ideas you’ll get to explore if you read Grammar For a Full Life. 1. On knowing when and how to criticize: “Nobody should be cut off from the inner well of confidence required to get on in this world.” Use modeling. Use scaffolding. Yield the red-pen lightly. 2. Soc...
Weinstein shows that certain tweaks to a person’s grammar can bring consequential changes in his or her fulfillment and well-being. In this wonderfully readable book, he describes some forty transformative moves that can be made with English punctuation and syntax.
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Grammar for a Full Life is a charming, accessible, and erudite exploration of the ways that our choices in syntax, sentence structure, and punctuation can affect our accumulation of psychological and spiritual benefits. Written by Lawrence Weinstein, an English professor and co-founder of Harvard’s Writing Center, it also stands as a ...
