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Dear Geist,

I received a comment from my writing instructor that read "You are a beautiful writer." I contend it does not mean the same thing as “You write beautifully.” Not to nitpick a compliment but I feel the arrangement of words in that sentence says something very different to what the instructor apparently meant to say. Your opinion?

—Linda Collari, Roots from Quebec


Dear Linda,

Technically you’re right: to place the adjective beautiful just before the noun writer is to describe the writer, rather than the writing. But principles of grammar and syntax are more useful as guides than as rules. Language as we actually speak and write it is rich, diverse and always changing, and we use it in different ways depending on the context. The sentence “You are a beautiful writer” in a teacher’s note to you is clear, comprehensible and appropriate to the situation. You wouldn’t write that sentence, but you can understand it (and bask in its warmth!).

—The Editors