Gender of the Times
The need for a standardized method of writing creates
a bond common to all writers, whether being professional writers or students
of all levels. The need to properly punctuate and accentuate sentences and
use proper grammatical verbs applies to all times and conditions whether
the user is using the latest information technology tools or the outdated
ink scrolls. Different types of information material are available
on the proper use of the English language, but most of these references succeed
only in bringing more confusion to an already disillusioned student body.
Some offer rules that can be mundane while others are useful but difficult
to memorize. In a website on "Rules of Writing" the following example
clearly points out the difficulty encountered when reading these rules, “DO
NOT use a comma to separate an independent clause not followed by a conjunction.”
Whether the tool is from a website, a book, or a literary article, the rules
of writing in the English language are constantly being modified to suit
the change of the times. This change of rules adds to the confusion and succeeds
in creating more havoc to the novice writer. The question that is more often
being asked is: what constitutes change in a rule and can rules change and
why?
It is worth noting that each reference tool has an author
and targets a specific audience in search of specific type of format for
writing and sometimes publishing material and articles. In some cases,
the audience, the author, and the era in which the material was published,
can change the rules. Time and geography, and of lately advances in
information technology has had its effect on the progression of the rules
of composition in the English language. The best example of all is the rift
that keeps on widening between American English and the Queen's English.
The geographical location and distances between the continents has had its
share effect on the annunciation, spelling and to a certain degree on the
change in meaning of the same words. Over the years, the rules on how to
properly pronounce words or how to correctly address someone or something
has also changed. Sometimes, the political and the social values of
the time also affect how we perceive our written, spoken and our computer-generated
world. For the purpose of this assignment, I have chosen a rule to compare
and contrast in three different reference materials. While examining
different materials and the corresponding authors, audience, and time of
publication, I found examples of how the combination of all three elements,
can change a rule placed in our English language from the beginning: the
gender usage of he/she/they.
I have compared and contrasted three materials; William
Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s, The Elements of Style, Dianna Booher’s, E-Writing
21st Century Tool For Effective Communication, and Jack Lynch’s Website.
I noticed that in order to follow a particular rule, or in this case gender,
following the change of the times seems more important than if the reference
is targeted to the email world, a book on writing, or a website on writing.
Being gender conscious became politically correct in the
later decades of the 20th century, and has progressed at the same speed into
the 21st century. Few decades ago, the emphasis on gender equality
was not as such, and many words and phrases that are being used today were
not popular or common. This may have been as a result of religious influence
of generations of scholars who referred to God as He. Today, referring to
a person as he as a pronoun for nouns referring to both genders is politically
incorrect. In a gender conscious world, using the substitutions as
making the subject plural or placing the combination of his or hers is an
option. In some cases, replacing the pronoun with they, or a, can work,
or even take out the pronoun altogether. As much as this may seem obvious
to those the Baby Boomers or Generation X-ers, those in the time of William
Strunk Jr. may not have noticed the necessity to be so gender conscious.
William Strunk Jr., was a professor of an English Eight,
or freshman composition class at Cornell University in 1919. He wrote, The
Elements of Style, which attempted to, “Cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric
down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin.” (Strunk
and White xi) The implied audience of this book seemed to be the high
school and beginning college students and those particularly attending Mr.
Strunk's classes. Mr. Strunk, who was known as being stern and precise, probably
wrote his book out of frustration at having to constantly correct the wrong
grammar and poor writing techniques submitted by his students.
Thirty-eight years later, a student of his, E.B. White,
decided to reexamine the work of his late Professor and to revise it to suit
college and general audience. E.B. White took Strunk’s seven rules
of usage, eleven principles of composition, a few matters of form, and a
list of words and expressions commonly misused, and added his own chapter,
“An Approach to Style.” This chapter placed E.B. White’s definition
of what constitutes style and what content the English language can contain.
E.B. White’s edition was published in 1972, and another revision was done
in 2000.
In the 1972 version of the chapter on “Misused Words and
Expressions”, the use of he as pronoun for both genders is discussed. It
states, “The word was unquestionably biased to begin with.” (White 60)
This chapter goes on to say substituting he or she in its place is okay if
it fits. But, it also states to watch out for repetition by substituting
each pronoun with he or she. The paragraph gives us some advice on
affirming the equality of the sexes, but the book does not seem to do itself
any justice.
Further examination of the different chapters in the book,
the male gender was used in many of the examples and the female examples
were mostly present when associated with the stereotypical housewife role
of a female. “As a mother of five, with another on the way, my ironing board
is always up.”(White 14) Or, “Chloe smells good, like a pretty girl
should.”(White 51) Whereas the male examples tend to be, “He possessed
great courage.”(White 57) “He is studying French Literature.”(White
52) While many of these examples might seem trivial and do not reek
of sexism the author did in his 2000 revision change he to they in majority
of the examples? This proves that the new age of being gender conscious caused
the new editors to revise a fresh version that the contemporary writer can
relate to. It seems that when Mr. Strunk wrote his book, he had the
beginning ideals of gender consciousness in mind, yet he said, “Use of he,
a practical convention rooted in the beginnings of the English Language.”(White
60) This points out the difficulty to change years of gender biased
towards man as being supreme.
After reading Strunk and White’s area on gender, I had
to analyze some more references to compare and contrast that rule.
In reading Jack Lynch’s website I noticed that is was targeted to high school
students and to undergraduates and graduates alike. He wrote his website
for students to get advice on writing "good" English Papers. He lets
the audience know, “There are no shortcuts. Writing good papers takes
work, and that means reading, researching, writing, revising.”(Lynch 2002)
In his site, Jack also discusses the gender-neutral pronouns. He states,
like Strunk, “his papers, is the traditional usage, but to some readers it
suggests male chauvinism.”(Lynch 2002) Then, he states there are several
ways out, unlike Strunk, who states, “The furor recently raised about he
would be more impressive if there were a handy substitution for the word.
Unfortunately, there isn’t or, at least, no one has come up with one yet.”(White
56) Jack’s examples of ways out are,
I usually opt for
his or her, and mix the occasional his or her together with his’s
and her’s, separately.
Another is to use his sometimes, her at other times. Finally,
you can avoid problem
altogether and make your subject plural whenever
possible. (Jack's
site)
William Strunk and White, two educated white males, each wrote in an
era where there wasn’t a substitution for the gender usage, or even a strong
need for one. Yet, Jack Lynch is in a time when the idea of being gender
conscious is correct and his ideas on gender issues are different due to
being raised in a different era.
The issue of being gender conscious has a lot to do with
the time of publication, and the values surrounding the time of the authors.
Also, the issues can pertain to the gender of the author him/herself.
The next book, E-Writing 21st Century Tools for Effective Communication,
deals with the author being a female and writing in the information technology
age. This book is placed in a different century than that of Strunk
and White and different in terms of gender consciousness and gender reality.
Hear what a female using the latest tools of the information technology
age would say about proper gender usage.
Dianna Booher wrote, E-Writing 21st Century Tools for
Effective Communication, to help professionals in the workplace by giving
them a “how to” reference on emailing properly and more efficiently.
When reading this book, the audience gets a five step procedure that allows
the reader to, “Combat counter productive emails, write authoritatively,
handle email efficiently, select appropriate style for your audience, and
heighten image, self-confidence, and career prospects.”(Booher back cover).
Dianna is stepping past writing, to writing email correctly.
This places her as being in the information age, very different than Strunk
and White. Dianna is targeting an audience that is gender conscious,
and an audience that knows the difference of being biased and being correct.
She is also a female opening the doors to being very gender conscious about
the usage of the male pronoun. This places her in a different arena
than that of Strunk and White. She is at the same time period as Jack Lynch,
both being information age savvy but she having a different perspective due
to her again being female.
Booher’s examples on gender writing give a variety of choices to include
both genders.
Replace the pronoun
with a, an, or omit the pronoun altogether. Use plural nouns
and pronouns. Use
noun substitutions. Use he or she or he/she or alternate between
the two genders, if
doing so will not confuse readers. (Booher 183)
The analysis of the above referenced materials shows that
a writing rule can be changed due to the influence of the audience, the time
of its use and the effect of the social and political values of that era
on the publication and the author. It seems that over the years we have become
more aware of the gender differences and have tried to move away from the
many stereotypes and biases that have plagued our history. The issue
seems to be remotely tied with the way we change but not necessarily as a
rule of thumb. A rule such as he/she/they in terms of gender seems
to have less to do with the type of reference material, e.g., Booher’s for
email, or Strunk and White’s for paper, and more to do with the influence
of the ever changing elements. This rule is in a class of it’s own.
That’s not to say all rules are the same when comparing material, but in
this case, I found it as such.
Sources Cited
Strunk,William, Jr., & White, E.B. The Elements of Style.
3rd Ed. New York:
Macmillan Co., 1979.
Booher, Dianna. E-Writing 21st Century Tools for Effective Communication.
New
York: Pocket Books,
2001.
Lynch, Jack. (08/12/02). Getting an A on an English Paper. www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper.
Studies, Junket. (08/12/02). 11 Rules of Writing. http.://www.junketstudies.com
/rulesofw/