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Ha. Should I chortle?T'was brillig!
Ah, but language arises from a people who use it. Dictionaries may try to codify term.s & usage, but if a large people group use a word in a particular way that conveys a universally accepted meaning, by what source are they overruled? What makes them 'wrong?'
Richard.
Ah, but language arises from a people who use it. Dictionaries may try to codify term.s & usage, but if a large people group use a word in a particular way that conveys a universally accepted meaning, by what source are they overruled? What makes them 'wrong?'
This former English teacher says that Richard is correct.Editors and publishers and English teachers.
First it changes in the spoken language, then maybe moves into the written language, then maybe gets "accepted" as "correct."
The fact that lots of people say (or believe) something, does not make it correct.
This former English teacher says that Richard is correct.
Language evolves over time, and what makes things correct is when they become so thoroughly a part of everyday usage that they are generally accepted. Rules that exist for a while may eventually disappear. Some of the most frequently imposed supposed rules of English were in fact imposed upon the language by grammarians trying to make the language something it is not--Latin. The first grammar books for the English language were even written in Latin. Two examples of imposed rules are 1) no split infinitives and 2) no ending the sentence with a preposition. Both rules were placed in grammar books because in Latin it is not possible to do either. In English, though, it is often the best way to say something.
English has changed dramatically over the centuries. When I was studying in graduate school, I found something curious. I struggled to read anything in Old English, the language of Beowulf. Middle English (Chaucer) was much easier. When studying Chaucer, though, I sometimes had to look at one of his sources, which was written in Old French. I found that with my very weak background in modern French, I could read Old French better than I could read Old English. That is because French has not been impacted all that much by other languages over the centuries. Not so English. The British Isles were invaded by the Germanic Angles and Saxons, after which the Vikings made periodic raids, even providing several kings of England. Then the Norman French--themselves part Viking--took control and made French the official language of the court. Modern English is a strange conglomeration of many different langauges with many different grammar systems, giving us a real hodge-podge of rules. Over the centuries, this hodge-podge has been straightened out by everyday usage, and in most cases, when the general pubic misuses a "rule" to the point that it becomes accepted, the change has made the language better.