Shawn wrote: When I took an English usage class at college, I wrote a paper about rules of grammer that would show up in textbooks, that were not really English usage rules, but rules coming from Latin. There was a period where those who felt English was too informal had tried to foist some Latin usage rules upon the English language, in order to formalize the language more. (In my view there is a reason that Latin is a dead language, even though it has a prosperous offspring.) This article correctly identifies a couple of those rules. My recollection is that it was also a rule of Latin to never end a sentance with a preposition. There are, however, those teachers who still came through their high school and college careers grazing upon these rules, and they are still raised as proper forage in some English textbooks. So, it is still good to be aware of the rules rather than be docked points for not following them.
AnnMarie wrote: Shawn and Mom,
When I took modern grammar usage at BYU my professor challenged us to use conjuctions at the start and prepositions at the end of sentences just to make people aware that they are proper. And I have been doing so every time it seems right to. (See.) I am also very fond of splitting my infinitives, particularly when I want to persuasively argue a point. (Did it again.)
I would put in a plug for still saying, "This is she (or he)" when answering the phone. And I am also fairly snobbish with the use of "whom." "For whom the bell tolls." "Whom should I give this to?" "This book is for whom?"
This article was so well written that I read it out loud to Brandon and Kyle. I found myself chuckling, especially over the eaten children. Of course, Kyle left the room, and Brandon gave a courteous laugh when he thought it was appropriate. I guess they needed to be raised in a home where grammar rules were taught at the dinner table, which has been a blessing to those of us who write for a living.
Ams
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