When Poor Grammar in Conversation Can Work

Language is an amazing tool we use to communicate with each other. As a result, a lot of rules have been established so that we can make our thoughts known and understood by the other. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter on my social media feeds about breaking those rules and why we should do that.

My personal feeling is that those who say that we should break the rules because they are so restricting are the ones who don’t know the rules to begin with, and don’t want to bother to learn them. It’s much easier to say you’re ignoring the rule because you don’t need it, as opposed to saying you’re ignorant of the rule, and the poor grammar you use is a result of that lack of knowledge.

I think it’s fun to break the rules—once you know them. When I create dialogue for my characters, I often try to make their language as natural as possible for the type of person they are. Here are some of my favorite words to use instead of the correct ones:

Gonna, instead of going to

Wanna, instead of want to

Should of, instead of should have

How come, instead of why

C’mon, instead of come on

Outa, instead of out of

Woulda, instead of would have

I dunno, instead of I don’t know

Musta, instead of must have

Whatcha, instead if what do you

Gimmee, instead of give me

C’mere, instead of come here

I’m still not convinced that “try and do” is clear enough to replace “try to do.”

I have not yet resorted to using classic Western Pennsylvania words like “redding up” my room, or yince, our version of a plural you, but maybe I’ll someday have a character for whom that might be appropriate.

Breaking the rules can be fun, if you know the rules well enough in the first place. The bottom line is, you want to communicate clearly so that your reader will understand you. If you fail at that, you might as well not be writing.