An adverb used in this way is called a disjunct, and it’s a perfectly respectable (not to say, elegant) usage that allows the user to indicate their emotional stance towards the subject under discussion. But for reasons that are deeply mysterious to me, “hopefully” seems to have been singled out as one adverb that must never be used this way.

I’m willing to stick my neck out and say that in this case, Mr Strunk is plain wrong.

Strunk, I think, bothers us more than it bothered people when it first came out. The book’s tone was intended for readers of another age regardless of the quality of the advice. Today, we are more casual about everything from wearing dungarees to church to calling people we don’t know by their first names. So, Strunk just seems much too strong.

Being strong sometimes intimidates people the wrong way. Great authors certainly use comma splices effectively; and they know when to start a sentence with the “and” or “however.” People getting started often take everything Strunk says as gospel, never knowing that as a writer one of their first duties is learning when the most sacred rules should be broken.

Very interesting post. Glad I stumbled into your blog today.

Malcolm

Katherine, I think my specific experiences teaching writing do bias me toward a less rigid guide. Time and time again, I encounter students whose natural writing inclinations have been scared out of them by what you (beautifully) call “knuckle rapping.” I have to encourage students to learn that there’s more to writing than “the rules.” I can see that a critique group would provide a very different perspective, though.

Charlie, I took a look at the “however” section, and it made me laugh. As Katherine says, Strunk certainly doesn’t waffle!

Cheers,
Loren

I’ll check out WWS as soon as I clear my current backlog. Great to hear from you.

I feel a need to defend Strunk, though. What I love about The Elements of Style is that is doesn’t waffle or pander to timidity. Somehow I find that straightforwardness empowering. I also find the examples excellent — if I don’t happen to know the formal grammatical term, I can learn what it is from the examples.

It’s interesting that you used comma splices as an example of a construction people are nervous about identifying. Whenever I join critique groups, I encounter at least one person who does commas entirely “by feel”, and takes more out or puts more in according to what they feel the “pace” of the sentence should be. The usual result is that they have run-on sentences spliced together by commas. A little formal education and a (metaphorical) rap on the knuckles could well be useful for them.