Is anyone else completely bound to prescriptive grammar?

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I know that there is no English Language Council regulating grammar, but there are some thing up with which I will not put. (Guess what the first one is.)

Proper use of the subjunctive is imperative. It's "If I were...", not "If I was...".

The "Less/Fewer" distinction needs more attention.

And certainly neither last nor least, do not dangle prepositions. It's just not right.

Does anyone else have similar linguistic compulsions?

Affect vs Effect

I'd be very pleased if people on this board could get the hang of there, their, and they're, not to mention to, too, and two. I have a difficult enough time with language without people confusing me that way.

Criterion (singular), criteria (plural)

datum (singular), data (plural)

etc.

i couldn't care fewer

See sig. :P

Edit: Oh, wait, I have no sig. This is what it's supposed to be:

"He effected an effect, which effectively affected his affects affecting his effectiveness at putting into effect his effects."

Last edited by Myrkabah on 29 Nov 2007, 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

Let's face it...the English language is being slaughtered...and I believe television advertising is part of the blame...in addition,
to people just being sloppy and not caring.

My mom always told me when I was growing up that people judge you by the way you speak...immediately one can tell what
class in society you belong in by how you speak.

Well, I know how this can affect you. I know that some people really pride themselves on their grammar. I used to be a perfectionist as well, and can certainly understand that.

Sometimes I get too tired and the effect is that I start making STUPID mistakes. I apologize! They're really unintentional. When I see that there are mistakes, I usually try to correct them.

Hopefully I haven't made any here, especially since I tried to include every mistake you mentioned, including the two words affect and effect! I’m sure others can have fun making their own comments about this.

I generally hate slang of all types when it is being written. I understand some people are lazier when they are speaking but, when writing, it should be written correctly. I hear a lot of incorrect grammar, word usage, tense where I work and it drives me CRAZY. I don't correct anyone at this point even though I do it in my head or quietly enough to myself that they don't hear me.

I remember hearing a group of adults my age (30-40) complaining about how spelling is totally unimportant and only for people trying to pretend to be smart. I felt like I'd just been kicked in the stomach or something... Sheesh! Little wonder I don't fit in with the people of this planet!

I had a hard time integrating with my workmates at the railroad - you wanna' talk about poor language? They used the F-Word continuously! Every few words! It was like a signature - if you worked for the railroad, no matter what department, no matter what city - you spoke with constant F-bombs!

Little wonder I stood out!



I need to write a book or something.

Last edited by BlueMax on 29 Nov 2007, 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I definitely swear a lot but I think that comes from being in the military. The four things they say you pick up from the military are smoking, drinking, coffee, and swearing. I got the drinking and swearing. No smokes or coffee for me.

I don't think swearing is necessarily a symptom of poor language but I do think that it is overused sometimes. Myself included.

I agree in general--the less/fewer distinction I find especially important. In general I'm against bad usage when it DECREASES the specificity and range of thought. That the word 'gay' now almost exclusively means homosexual has robbed the language of the old meaning of gay. This destruction of meaning and specificity has the effect of "Newspeak" as described in the book 1984. I'm not too concerned about ending sentences in prepositions though, because this has been done for more than a century by some of the best writers of prose in the English language. I believe Winstom Churchill was the first to use your phrase "up with which I will not put". He meant it as a parody to show how stilted the language can sound if the preposition rule is held to in all circumstances. Since the placing of prepositions does not narrow the range of expression, I have no real problem with ending sentences with them. It can get ridiculous however, as in this question: Why did you bring me that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?

I am definitely a grammar prescriptivist (in all the languages I speak, not just English), but then again, that's what they pay me for. And no, I don't have a problem with dangling prepositions in informal speech or writing.

My primary bugbears are apostrophe abuse, less/fewer, and the big one: theory/hypothesis. Which I suppose is more vocabulary prescriptivism than it is grammar. Oh, and my main spelling pet peeve is "supercede." Blech.

And, since you asked for it by starting this thread, you're incorrect to say that not dangling prepositions is "certainly neither last nor least." In fact, as it was the final thing in your list, it is indeed last, but not least.

Last edited by ChelseaOcean on 29 Nov 2007, 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Don't take it personally. They were IDIOTS! When you are talking with a higher class person, the language can make a DEFINITE difference. If people have trouble reading your words, don't know the meaning of a word, or speak several languages, spelling can become VITAL to being properly understood. To say it is only to be pretentious is IDIOTIC!

BTW to anyone that doubts the veracity of that.... Please, if you are AMERICAN, tell me what THIS word might be:

neash

British people might figure it out, but the average American would NOT! I COULD spell the same word another way so Americans would get it, and OTHERS probably wouldn't. So much for PHONETIC spelling!

Dangling prepositions; split infinitives; unwieldy sentence construction; 'there, their, they're'; 'where, were, wear'; incorrect use of apostrophes; 'effect/affect'; 'less/fewer'; and finally 'definately' all drive me to distraction

I try very hard not to be a grammatical pedant and to adopt a less rigid style when I post but sometimes I cannot read a post because of offensive grammar. It happens less so here, but is so common elsewhere.

Is it very difficult to keep a dictionary and thesaurus next to the pc and use it? For most people, apparently so


Sorry, but I just have to do this......

Instead of

How about


Ahhh, that's better

Niche?