3 ms·
Mind if I ask where you're from? While not really adding anything or altering the meaning (so technically it could be called superfluous), removing it here to m
by drcongo 4y ago
Mind if I ask where you're from? While not really adding anything or altering the meaning (so technically it could be called superfluous), removing it here to my British brain makes the sentence sound lazy and I was definitely taught in school that it should be there. I do also agree that the sentence is terribly written in general though.
- dbspin 4y agoSure. I'm Irish. I've been a professional writer for about thirteen years. Formality of sentence construction is context dependent. In prose there's usually little purpose and no solid grammatical rule for retaining superfluous words. Depending on the pace and rhythm of the piece - which in turn dictate interesting things like the readers perception of time. For example you can make time flow faster by using brief, truncated, staccato sentences. Or stretch it out with more formal, grandiloquent sentences. You can also convey the informality of a relationship, or even the physical structure of space or an object in much the same way. These are elements of voice - the character or tone of the sentence or paragraph, which is contextualised by the overall piece. I'm not articulating theory here - more trying to convey how I and other writers intuitively learn to play with prose.
- drcongo 4y agoFantastic answer, thank you. Thinking about it, it's literally decades since I last wrote creative prose, maybe my formal writing muscle memory was just kicking in here.