Intentional grammatical errors

Yes, it's acceptable. Have you read the Junie B. Jones series of children's books? Those are full of intentional errors in narration, mostly for comedic effect.

IMHO, no. I know you're writing from a child's POV, but still, you need to communicate with the readers and if you keep injecting grammatical errors as a child would do, you're going to tire out the readers (not to mention grate on them). Occasional errors would be cute, however, especially for effects. To me, the best approach is not through the mechanics, but the tone, voice, and the way the child uses words and constructs the sentences.

It's a tricky thing to write from the point of view of a character who has a poor command of English. Forrest Gump, for example, is a developmentally challenged man without a lot of education. So how do you write from his POV without writing in poor English? I think Winston Groom did a great job -- it's all in the voice.

I'm writing a novella from a child's point of view. Is it all right to include grammatical errors in the narration ("me and my sister" instead of "my sister and I")? How can I make sure that the reader won't mistakenly believe that it is a genuine error?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Unless one of your plot points depends on the grammar, I'm more inclined to agree with Ray. You need to pay more attention to getting the voice right, not making grammar mistakes. (However, I might consider "me and my sister" to be a voice issue and not a grammar one--for the sake of your story).

Ray already mentioned Gump. Another fantastic one is Flowers for Algernon--this book DID depend on incorrect grammar to help tell the story. If you do it right and get the voice right, the reader will know it's not a mistake.

Exir said:

I'm writing a novella from a child's point of view. Is it all right to include grammatical errors in the narration ("me and my sister" instead of "my sister and I")? How can I make sure that the reader won't mistakenly believe that it is a genuine error?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Everyone has answered your question, so I am going to answer the question that wasn't asked. "Me and my sister" is not more or less grammatically correct than "my sister and I".

This is how I and Me work.

Say the sentence without the other person. So if the sentence was "Can you help _ and my sister with the dishes?" You say it without Sister, so you say, "Can you help me with the dishes?" (it isn't, "Can you help I with the dishes?"). Then you put "sister" back into the sentence, "Can you help ME and my sister with the dishes?"

THAT is grammatically correct.

What will make your sentence grammatically incorrect depends on the subject of your sentence. IF your sentence is "My sister and _ went to the store", then you would say it without "sister", "I went to the store" not "ME went to the store". Now put "sister" back in. "My sister and I went to the store"

THAT is ALSO grammatically correct.

I'm sorry to get on your case about this, but the ME vs I issue is a big deal to me, and people, even very intelligent writers, seem to not understand that one isn't better than the other, more grammatically correct than the other. They are BOTH correct, and BOTH wrong depending on the sentence.

Toothpaste, I think that the thing the original poster was referring to was constructions of the "Me and my sister went to the store" variety, which is a very common misusage among children.

And no, Exir, I don't think the editors will think your grammar usage is the same as a child's. But, as others have said, don't go overboard.

Well I would hope so, but you would be shocked at how many well read intelligent people out there truly believe "My sister and I" is always right and "My sister and me" is always wrong.

OP, if you were aware of the difference, my apologies, but I think my comment could still be useful to lurkers possibly.

Using simple language for a child is fine, I don't think you need to make an effort to rearrange the grammar, drop in a lot of slang or omit letters that a very young child may have trouble pronouncing due to trouble in enunciation or missing teeth. Flowers for Algernon is about an adult going from low to high IQ and back, not a child, so I don't think the same impact would apply strictly from a child's POV.

Toothpaste said:

Well I would hope so, but you would be shocked at how many well read intelligent people out there truly believe "My sister and I" is always right and "My sister and me" is always wrong.

OP, if you were aware of the difference, my apologies, but I think my comment could still be useful to lurkers possibly.

Click to expand...

Oh, I would not be shocked by any much-beloved error in English grammar, because I used to teach first-year university composition. And went from that to copyediting and line-editing.

I agree with you that there are many people who have the idea that "I" is formal and "me" is informal--if I had a dollar for everyone who not only wrote "Just between you and I," but vociferously defended it to me as "more correct," I would have (just between you and me) many, many dollars.

So, yes, I think your post was very very useful, regardless of whether it intersected with the original poster's intended question.

And I should say that a very little of the "me and my sister went to the store" goes an awfully long way indeed.

Grammar is logic. Too many mistakes in grammar create confusion--who actually did what? As a first grade teacher whose students are learning English, I get LOTS of examples. My favorite was the boy who confused his pronouns. He tried to tell me about a lizard who bit his grandmother's finger, but he said She bit Him...so...I wondered if the old lady often ate raw lizard...

"me and my sister went to the store" is a perfect way to make the voice sound like a child's without losing the meaning of the sentence. Those are the kinds of grammar errors that are safe to make, and a few of them make it sound more authentic. On the other hand, modern middle-class kids are amazingly articulate, so I don't think you need very many mistakes. Strike a balance, IMHO.

Maestro is right.
You might try using "sis" instead of sister and doing away with the "my," e.g.
Sis and I are going to the store. (Technically correct, but still sounding ungrammatical, w/o outrightly breaking any rules.)

Exir,

Just remember that a little goes a long ways. You have to find a balance between being true to your character's voice, because you want us the reader to be in their head, but you don't want the writing to become noticed because you go overboard.

How to tell how much is enough? That's tougher--I'd just write it, let it flow out of you as you think she would think, and then ask for feedback from fellow writers. I think the most important thing is that it sound natural. Don't force it, don't think about it too much until you are revising. You may find that it's only a phrase or two where you need to go the ungrammatical route, and the rest you can show through her observations/thought processes that are unique to her.

First, I want to thank Toothpaste for mentioning the succinct method to checking the whole "me vs. I" thing. It is nice to be reminded, and you did a service.

As for the "kid voice" issue, do you have access to a kid you can use? I have had much success working with actual kids of the age I am trying to write about, and having them use their own words to convey what I am trying to say. Think: interpreter. Don't steer them too much, just give them a bit of background and then feed them the prompt they are to respond to, and see what they say. I have had a couple kids write down their responses (thus rendering spelling gaffs as well) which I use as fodder for my writing, while others prefer to just say it because it sounds more natural for them than to take the time to write it.

Another thought, is that if the narrative voice is always correct while a given speaker is occasionally incorrect, it is pretty obvious that it was intentional.

Wow.

Toothpaste said:

Well I would hope so, but you would be shocked at how many well read intelligent people out there truly believe "My sister and I" is always right and "My sister and me" is always wrong.

OP, if you were aware of the difference, my apologies, but I think my comment could still be useful to lurkers possibly.

Click to expand...

I was going to say about 4:1, since I remember doing a Google search for a compound prepositional object a while back and seeing 1600 people doing it the right way and 400 doing it the wrong way, but look at this:

"of Dan and me" (1640 hits)

"of Dan and I" (8910 hits)


Wow.

(It doesn't read commas right, so there can be the occasional "of Dan, and I..." that got added into the later group.) (Even so...)

~Terry Lee Wright