Are you afraid of grammar nazis? I am not anymore.

[sallukp]

I am an aspiring writer. I mainly write short stories. But I am not good at grammar and stuff. I was afraid of the Grammar Nazis as they were used to point out my mistakes in public. They even had degraded my writings. Then I happened to read this wonderful article. . It inspired me a lot not to care about grammar nazis and to write on. When I read it, I thought I should share it so that every aspiring writer get an advantage from it.

So you should read it please. See what I did in the last sentence

[Terry T.A. Rodgers]

Although you do not need to listen to the grammar Nazis, you do need to continue to strive toward not having to listen to them. Proper grammar and spelling are extremely important to a writer.

[shadowwalker]

Agree with Terry - grammar is that thing that allows others to understand what we're trying to say. And while I've learned to hold my tongue in casual exchanges, I do notice grammatical errors, and it does cause my estimation of people to change. This is particularly true of writers, who are supposed to understand the tools of their trade.

[pls]

[James A. Ritchie]

[C-Girl]

I agree that grammar is important and we should all strive to achieve an excellent level of competence in our writings. That said, if you have a wonderful story but need help with your grammar, you can find/hire someone to help you. If you have perfect grammar but a terrible story, no one can help you. Get your story down. Study the craft. Study grammar. Bring it all together in one wonderful package. Pat yourself on the back when you do.

[Crono91]

[DrG2]

I recently picked up a college writing book (Little, Brown Handbook) at a used-book store. I read the 480 pages that were not specifically about writing research papers and other essays (grammar and style). It was good to read, although I didn't learn much, I did get a refresher (and got clarification on a couple of points where I had been uncertain).

I think it would be a good thing to read a writing (grammar and style) book regularly.

[Loren Killdeer]

I'm not afraid of them! English is not my first language, and even if I consider myself fluent enough I know I make mistakes. I make mistakes all the time!, so its pretty different for me when someone notices. It makes me learn, and when I finish all this and I start to translate it I hope to get a good grammar nazi to help me out.

That does not mean that I won't try to make my best. I study my verbs and correct puntuation. I'm my own language I'm a mute grammmar nazi all the time (only god knows all the mistakes I have to read and listen everyday. Years of evolution of language to get people to easily destroy it).

Make your best!

[cynicalwanderer]

I have a recurring nightmare where I'm being chased by Strunk & White wielding blood-stained split infinitives at me.