I don't write for Professor Higgins. Deal with it

[BobbyBrandt]

I wish there was a way to get some of these grammar Nazis to at least move their lips when they read.

Inane comments related to the proper use of pronouns when the content is obviously in character dialog and not the narrative (that's what those two little apostrophe-looking characters signify), are the only ones I ever get tempted to delete.

I know that Him and I went to the pool is incorrect if written in the first person narrative. It is not incorrect if written to illustrate that is the way that a character speaks.

I put a lot of effort into the development of my characters, and how they talk is fundamental to that development:

“I didn’t axe them to give me a blow job. Day did it on der own,” Thadius said defensively.

Hank chuckled and said, “Her and Shirley do like to give ‘em.”

If that grammar bothers someone, maybe they should go read "Pygmalion" one more time. Just stay away from mine.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Policing dialogue for grammar is definitely one of the more foolish forms of critique. It's even a bigger pain in the neck when you write in first person and people have trouble grasping that the whole story is in the character's voice.

 

[iwatchus]

A character's grammar and word choice can show so many things about them. Their background, thinking of Professor Higgins, but also their state of mind and their growth. Maybe their comfort with the ones around them. Mark Twain, Harper Lee and G.B. Shaw come to mind quickly as people who wrote characters with less than the Queen's English. It is an area I strive to get better at.

I consciously adjusted my MC's language across the story I just submitted. I threw in some big red signs saying she is changing, listen to the language, but I am curious how many people even notice, big red signs or not.

 

[MelissaBaby]

A character's grammar and word choice can show so many things about them. Their background, thinking of Professor Higgins, but also their state of mind and their growth. Maybe their comfort with the ones around them. Mark Twain, Harper Lee and G.B. Shaw come to mind quickly as people who wrote characters with less than the Queen's English. It is an area I strive to get better at.

I consciously adjusted my MC's language across the story I just submitted. I threw in some big red signs saying she is changing, listen to the language, but I am curious how many people even notice, big red signs or not.

One of the reasons I like writing period pieces in first person is that it is so much fun writing colloquial narrative.

 

[Djmac1031]

I know that Him and I went to the pool is incorrect if written in the first person narrative. It is not incorrect if written to illustrate that is the way that a character speaks.

I have never once heard a human being utter the words "Him and I" in any context.

Just sayin'.

 

[AlexBailey]

I have never once heard a human being utter the words "Him and I" in any context.

Just sayin'.

Of course that’s a song title and lyric. Still, I’ve heard it said, mostly in the context of someone trying too hard to sound proper.

 

[Fatdog25]

Live in enough trailer parks and low income housing, this sounds downright edumacated.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have never once heard a human being utter the words "Him and I" in any context.

Just sayin'.

Ah, my friend, you have led a sheltered life...

 

[Djmac1031]

Ah, my friend, you have led a sheltered life...

If you say so.

 

[lovecraft68]

Going back to my question in the stacnash thread about two types of authors, here is the second example.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you say so.

It's usually he and I?

I get that people butcher the English language so improper grammar in dialogue can be overlooked, I do it all the time, but I think its a fine line between slang and a speed bump of 'wait, what?"

But people write as they choose to.

 

[Djmac1031]

It's usually he and I?

I dunno. Most people i know generally just say "we."

I didn't say "Him and I" was wrong. I just said ive never heard anyone say that in casual conversation.

The OP brought up the question of why anyone would criticize his usage of it. I merely provided a possible explanation - that it's not as common as he might think.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have never once heard a human being utter the words "Him and I" in any context.

Just sayin'.

Come to Texas... Him and I'll take y'all fer ride outa the pond fer sum fishin.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

American Southern dialects will hear a lot of "him and me" and "him and I" kind of talkin'.

If you be fixin' to check on all y'alls grammars, you'd do best to remember theres places where people ain't got that there big city larnin'.

 

[TheLobster]

If you be fixin' to check on all y'alls grammars, you'd do best to remember theres places where people ain't got that there big city larnin'.

“My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that’s the way him and I likes it.”

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

“My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that’s the way him and I likes it.”

Considering the current context for Hogshead, I certainly hope your car isn't going any further than forty rods.

 

[Erozetta]

I've heard me an' 'im, y'all, us'll, y'us'uns, those 'uns, these 'uns, all them, them all, me and them, us guys, we, we all and other variations.

I basically forgive all dialogue that could be written in dialect form.

 

[Erozetta]

If you be fixin' to check on all y'alls grammars, you'd do best to remember theres places where people ain't got that there big city larnin'.

The people I grew up around would say:

If'n yur fixin' ta check yur (ya would also work here, but not the first spot) gramma', you'd best remember some people ain't got all that big city learnin'.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

The people I grew up around would say:

If'n yur fixin' ta check yur grammar, you'd best remember some people ain't got all that big city learnin'.

Yes'm, I can hear that.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I've heard me an' 'im, y'all, us'll, y'us'uns, those 'uns, these 'uns, all them, them all, me and them, us guys, we, we all and other variations.

I basically forgive all dialogue that could be written in dialect form.

Side bar... I worked with a girl from Pennsylvania a long time ago. She kept saying y'uns in our conversation.

I kept thinking, "What the hell does Chinese currency have to do with anything?"

 

[Erozetta]

Side bar... I worked with a girl from Pennsylvania a long time ago. She kept saying y'uns in our conversation.

I kept thinking, "What the hell does Chinese currency have to do with anything?"

My experience with trailer park dialect is extensive.


Dialect note: there are people around Cincinnati, Ohio ( and a couple parts of Indiana and Pennsylvania) who call bell peppers mangoes and it hurts my soul.

Also hotpot instead of casserole. I know it exists. I know it's correct regional dialect. It still sets my teeth on edge when I read it or hear it.

 

[StillStunned]

Also hotpot instead of casserole. I know it exists. I know it's correct regional dialect. It still sets my teeth on edge when I read it or hear it.

I'll take a Lancashire hotpot over a measly casserole any day of the week. Proper grub. Sticks to your ribs.

 

[iwatchus]

Side bar... I worked with a girl from Pennsylvania a long time ago. She kept saying y'uns in our conversation.

Ah Pittsburgh. My spouse gets annoyed by "the car needs washed" that is ubiquitous there.

 

[crookedletter]

This is true beyond dialog, I think. I'm not writing term papers. I'm writing fiction. Narrators have voice. You can break rules in favor of rhythm and style. If my narrator gets a head of steam and wants to rant in a really long sentence that doesn't have any breaks or punctuation and is probably a run-on but what they're describing is frenetic and intense and doesn't leave time for things like commas or periods or semicolons then damnit I'm gonna write some run-on sentences. Fragments too.

 

[StillStunned]

If my narrator gets a head of steam and wants to rant in a really long sentence that doesn't have any breaks or punctuation and is probably a run-on but what they're describing is frenetic and intense and doesn't leave time for things like commas or periods or semicolons then damnit I'm gonna write some run-on sentences

That's usually how my orgasms go. Well, not my orgasms, but my characters' orgasms.