Grammar Quirks: Ann Cleeves on Not Letting Grammar Get in the Way

Grammar Girl: What’s your favorite word and why?

Ann Cleeves: "Serendipity." I love the sound of it, but also the concept, that sense of chancing on a new idea, thing, or person just at the right time. I first went to Shetland because of a serendipitous meeting in a London pub with someone who was heading off to be assistant warden in the Bird Observatory in Fair Isle. He let slip that there was a vacancy as an assistant cook. I couldn’t cook, and I knew nothing about birds, but they must have been desperate because they gave me the job! I went on to meet my husband on the island—he was a visiting birder—and to make lifelong friends there. Shetland is also the setting for the novel that changed my career.

GG: What’s a word you dislike (either because it’s overused or misused) and why?

AC:  This is probably completely irrational, but I do dislike "so" at the beginning of a sentence. Broadcasters use it a lot now and usually it’s completely unnecessary. It’s become a habit, I think, and it serves no real purpose.

GG: What word will you always misspell?

AC:  "Affect" and "effect."  I need someone to explain the context in which each is used!  I’m still not entirely sure.

Affect Versus Effect

GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why?

AC:  "Pixieshittery," used to describe the kitsch tat found in gift shops, especially in faded seaside towns. It was coined by a friend of my husband, and it’s gone on to become part of my vocabulary. It is so descriptive. I used it in one of my Matthew Venn books and readers loved it too.

GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about?

AC:  Like many people I hate the misuse of the apostrophe, which is used to denote belonging in certain circumstances—as in "the boy’s ball" (singular "boy") or the "boys’ ball" (plural)—but also a missing letter ("don’t" for "do not"). Of course, there are exceptions to the rule so "its ball" is correct although it means belonging, to differentiate it from "it’s stupid" where a letter is missing …...

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