Essays that Worked!

Eva Jablow '12, Classical High School, Providence, RI

The Cruel World of Grammar

Ask your average teenager what they use to escape from the hectic life of high school and you’ll get a list of various sports teams, artistic hobbies, and musical instruments. Surprisingly, English class has always been this getaway for me more than anything else. I had trouble with the high school transition and as odd as it may sound, grammar represented a home for me, something stable and straightforward. As a sophomore, I began to play around with grammar; I stretched it, bent it, reshaped it. Last year, I wrote a paper on the role of anti-Semitism in The Merchant of Venice, which, if you had asked me, was fairly well written. To my surprise, I received a B- primarily due to the number of fragments incorporated into my essay. Apparently, I had mistaken AP English for creative writing.

By definition, fragments are sentences that lack either a subject or a verb. These are generally frowned upon and omitted from formal writings. They are taught in schools as the enemy, an incorrect, nonsensical string of words. Students are told to avoid them at all costs and watch out for them; to guard their papers with all of their (mental) strength. I, however, disagree. I stand up to this commonly accepted view of fragments as the “outcasts” of the grammar world. Just as in any social setting, I believe these so-called outcasts are simply underestimated and misunderstood phrases. 

I say fragments are beautiful. They are the true keys to any reader’s heart. Fragments allow a writer to convey more spunk and attitude. They made final points and can create playful writing and more intriguing thoughts. They appear everywhere. We read them in novels and see them in newspapers, yet we are forbidden to throw them into our essay in a formal setting. Ridiculous.

We do not shun a dependent clause simply because it would not technically exist on its own. Instead, we just give it a demeaning name and surround it with supportive grammar.  So why give fragments a bad reputation because they lack this support? Why introduce them to students as evil in a brainwashing attempt to slowly kill them off? I say embrace fragments; don’t fight them. Let me decide for myself what’s best. Show me a fragment. Explain that it is not necessarily accepted as correct, but that this does not matter. Teach me that it can be a useful tactic in engaging interest in my writing and that I now have a choice. I can conform under the pressure of the high standing grammar world, or I can take a chance and maybe dive into a new thought process; that of the fragment.

Fragments are admirable. They stand up to logic and prove grammar wrong everyday. Nearly every magazine article and newspaper column can capture fragments at their best. Short and sweet, choppy and funky. It’s what keeps the Average Joe reading, so why are we discouraged from taking on the challenge and capturing fragments ourselves? I don’t like the idea of limiting something that has often been my own personal getaway. Last time I checked, it was immoral to shove bias into the faces of students. I saw my English teacher as doing more than editing my paper and grading it by her sacred rubric’s standards. She was restricting the diversity of my writing and she, of all people, should be aware of the impact reading and writing have on an individual.

So don’t thank grammar practice sheets for raising modern day’s most successful writers. Instead, thank the open mindedness of these authors and journalists for they have accepted fragments into the family. They have learned what really creates a story and brings in the crowds. Fragments are just the beginning of this grammatical revolution and my teacher is not the only one fighting against the cause. Even while I was writing this, Microsoft Word made sure to identify all of my fragments as mistakes. Case and point.  

Last Modified: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 14:23