Manifesto

Whitney's Grammar and Style Manifesto

For this assignment, our class collectively decided on a minimum length of 1000 words. We were allowed to write more, but the extra length was not considered as adding quality. We were not to exceed 4000 words, and we decided on an audience of grammar-loving teachers at all levels of education. But in thinking of that as the audience, we did not intend or expect that we had to pander to them. We aimed to set things right as to how grammar and style get taught, and so there was supposed to be a wide variety of plausible rhetorical choices. And while we figured that responsible editing would play a role here, particular kinds of style and usage depended much on what the document aimed to do.

Based on everything we knew (including material from this course), we composed our persuasive treatise about how we think the style and believe grammar should be taught and/or learned. We did not need to use or document sources, though we made sure to mention those we did use, perhaps in journalistic style or with links.