George Orwell on Correct Grammar and Syntax

I partly agree and partly disagree with Orwell’s contention that grammar is irrelevant as long as the message of the author is clear.  One of the difficulties I have with Orwell’s position is the premise of his argument: that in fact it is possible to be clear while simultaneously being grammatically incorrect.  For as long as I can remember, teachers have corrected my grammar.  As I have grown older, using proper grammar has been reinforced in me by reading books, which of course use proper grammar.  This makes it very difficult for me to separate the message of a written sentence from its grammatical construction.  This is especially the case with long sentences that grammar would dictate should include periods and or commas. For example, take a look at the following grammatically incorrect long winded sentence: John is obese John loves food John is nice John is unhappy John is made fun of John wants to commit suicide.   The message that poor, nice John wants to commit suicide because he is unhappy due to his obesity gets lost because of the writer’s failure to use commas, periods and or semicolons as well as his redundant use of the proper name John.  

Interestingly, I do not have the same difficulty decoding oral messages which use imprecise grammar.  I believe this is because oral language is neither generally corrected by others or required by societal norms to adhere as strictly to precise grammar as written language. This previous sentence includes an example of where in fact I agree with Orwell’s position.  Interestingly, if the grammatical error were not highlighted in bold it may have been unnoticed by even the most diligent reader.   I believe that Orwell is indeed correct with respect to grammatical errors that are commonly made and no do not involve punctuation. This is because common grammatical errors like “neither or” are not embedded in our consciousness so they do not interfere with clarity.   I used to always say, “I am good” in response to the question “How are you?” instead of “I am well.” The mistake of using “good” instead of “well” like “or” instead of “nor” is just not structurally embedded in my brain to interfere with clarity. For the reasons discussed above, I partially agree and partially disagree with Orwell’s position that grammar is irrelevant as long as the message of the writer is clear.