语言与文风2016theguardian.com
你是语法警察吗？原因可能在这里
Are you a grammar pedant? This might be why
导读
这篇文章讨论“语法洁癖”背后的心理类型：对语法错误的强烈反应，可能与内向、对粗心的低容忍度等性格特质相关。对写作者来说，值得读的地方在于它把争论从“谁对谁错”拉回到一个更实用的问题：语法究竟为谁服务。读完可以重新审视自己改稿时的优先级——哪些错误只是面子问题，哪些真的妨碍读者理解。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
语法的首要目的是让读者顺畅理解，而不是让作者显得有学问；改稿时先问“这句话读者能不能一次读懂”。
- 02
好的语法和标点是对读者的体贴，能降低对方的解码成本；糟糕的写法则把理解负担推给了读者。
- 03
不必对所有错误一视同仁：不影响理解的拼写小错可以放过，而改变句意的用词和标点错误必须优先修正。
- 04
语言中本就有历史遗留的不一致（如 its 与 it's），对这类错误可以宽容，但要警惕错误会像传染病一样扩散。
- 05
把对语法错误的恼怒重新定义为“在意沟通”，比单纯指责对方无知更有建设性，也更适合写作者自省。
HN 评论精选
对语法敏感的本质是在意沟通，语法错误反映的是对传达想法的重视程度，而非智力。
我对语法错误的生理性反应，是觉得这个人不太重视传达想法。这和智商无关，是价值观问题。我小时候讨厌英语课、逃课、不及格，直到上了 BBS 才发现拼写和语法会影响我表达的能力，于是主动补学——不是为了应付别人的嘲讽，而是因为沟通这件事很重要。我们沟通是为了分享想法，没有这个机制，就不会有今天所谓的“技术”和“机器”。
nerdy查看英文原文
But what does this tell us about introverts? Is the "pebble in the shoe" of an introvert an annoyance with the perceived carelessness on the part of the grammatical offender? Or maybe a lack of respect? Is introversion the cause, or a sibling to pedantry of a broader psychological trait? I hated English classes in school, never paid attention. Skipped. Failed. It seemed inconsequential at the time. Gaining access to a BBS was a bit of a culture shock. Computers were fascinating but suddenly my peers cared about spelling, grammar... even punctuation (it happened to be a BBS for a local paper, maybe related). So at 15, I felt out of place and committed to thoroughly learning all of the things I'd skipped in school. Not because of snarky responses, corrections, or others’ expectations but because it impacted my ability to communicate - which I don't particularly enjoy but feel is important. Even now, I'm communicating... but it isn't for the sake of making noise or banging on a keyboard, it's about an idea. We communicate to share thoughts and without that mechanism we wouldn't have shared learning which resulted in anything commonly considered "technology" or "machines" today. My visceral reaction to grammatical errors is the feeling that the person places less of a value on communicating ideas. It isn't about intelligence, it's about values. Does anyone else feel this way? Am I just a pedantic, judgmental asshole?
语法的目的是被理解，好语法是替读者着想；不影响理解的错误可以放过，影响句意的必须纠正。
不，这反映的是你对懒惰的容忍度。语法的意义在于被理解：好的语法说明作者在努力帮读者，差的语法说明作者不在乎、把理解全丢给读者。不影响理解的错误可以不予评论，比如某些词拼错也认得出；但用词和标点上的改动可能彻底改变句意，必须小心。对语言本身前后不一致的地方我也能原谅，比如我知道 its 和 it's 怎么用，但也理解有人会以为 it's 表示所有格——反正把 it's 换成 it is 基本讲不通，我每次都能猜出原意，没什么大不了。
makecheck查看英文原文
No, it reflects how much tolerance you have for laziness. The point of grammar is to be understood. Good grammar shows that the writer is trying to help the reader. Poor grammar shows that the writer doesn’t care, and the reader is forced to figure everything out. Arguably, mistakes that don’t affect understanding can be overlooked without any comment. For example, some words are pretty unique; you can seriously misspell them and still recognize them. On the other hand, you have to be careful with changes to words or even punctuation that can drastically alter the meaning of a sentence. I can also forgive things that are frankly inconsistent in the language. For instance, although I know when to use "its" versus "it’s", I certainly get why someone would think that "it’s" may be correct for possession; and, since it is very unlikely that "it is" will make any sense as a replacement, I can also figure out what was intended every time. No big deal.
语法较真不是情绪反应而是理性判断，因为错误会传染；对语言的依赖程度不同，容忍度也不同。
相关性也许存在，但说成因果关系有点牵强。我确实内向，也确实会被自己能看出的错别字和语法错误惹恼（虽然英语是我第三语言，我自己也会犯错），但我觉得这些错误有害且会传染：现在所有格的 its 被写成 it's 的情况反而更多，尤其在技术文章和 HN 上的博客里。所以这不是情绪化的条件反射，而是明知有害仍选择较真。另一个猜想是：外向的人往往记性好（名字、长相、生日），别人写得潦草也不影响他们自己；而像我这样需要经常刷新记忆、更依赖阅读来维持语言能力的人，会更觉得错别字和语法错误有害。
lazyjones查看英文原文
The correlation seems to exist, but implying causation is a bit of a stretch. I'm definitely introverted and annoyed by typos and grammar mistakes I can identify (despite making some myself with English being my 3rd language), but I also consider them harmful and contagious: e.g. the possessive "its" is written more often as "it's" than not these days, especially in tech articles and blog entries posted on HN. Therefore it's not really an emotional, knee-jerk reaction, but conscious pedantry and anger because of the harm done to readers through neglect. Here's another theory (well, hypothesis...): extroverted people frequently have a good memory (names, faces, birthdays...) and can tolerate sloppy writing by others because it doesn't affect their own, while those who - like me - need to refresh their memories regularly and possibly rely more on reading for language skills, might find typos and grammar mistakes more harmful.
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