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Rhetoric professor writes Comma Sutra Students made uneasy by grammatically explicit material by Kathryn Edwards, Associate Editor
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 | “Absolute adjectives make me feel
absolutely dirty.” |
CAMPUS — Rhetoric and composition professor James Thompson's book, Comma Sutra: the Joy of Grammar, emphasizes the beauty and pleasure of grammatical construction.
"It's time to spice things up," explained Thompson. "Traditional texts, such as Grammaticality for Grammarians, are dull and routine. Students would rather roll over and fall asleep than engage in grammatical foreplay. The Comma Sutra is just the ticket to keeping things lively and interesting in class."
"I wish I could say the obvious sexual references ended with the book title," said junior Rachel Archen. "But they don't. Every day in class it's something about 'antecedents: the backdoor approach to description' and 'practicing safe syntax.' I know he's trying to be funny, but it's more awkward and sad than it is an effective teaching tool."
The lecture-based intro class focuses on preventing common grammatical mistakes. Thompson often gives tips to students to aid them with their writing.
"Premature interjections are embarrassing for everybody," Thompson told his students during class last week. "But it happens to writers with even the biggest diction."
He added: "Best! Best diction."
The Comma Sutra includes the chapters "Congress of the Dash," "Splitting the Bamboo Infinitive," and "The Soaring Apostrophe." Each chapter lists grammatical exercises to practice at home with a partner, or even, for some of the more difficult activities, with two other people.
Although enrollment has not increased, Thompson is confident that students have been paying more attention. There is debate, however, whether they have been paying attention to the grammar or the latent sexual innuendos that dominate the class.
"Thompson's rhetoric class is absolutely hilarious," commented sophomore Brian McCoy. "If I still had any respect for America's Funniest Home Videos, I would tape the class and send it to them. I think I almost peed myself during the lecture on colons and contractions."
Thompson's cognizance of these innuendos is not clear ? he maintains that he conducts the class as he normally would.
"When writing your papers," explained Thompson about the final project, "The last thing you want is to get involved with loose sentences or play around with your dangling participles." |
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