Kudos to Mark for showing some linguistics knowledge
on this physics list. The flexibility of the English
language is one of its greatest strengths. English
borrows from other languages at a rate greater than
any other known modern languange. English converts
verbs to nouns and back to verbs with remarkable ease.
This may make it a bit hard for the elderly to keep
up, but it expands our expressive power. The
grammarian view point is rapidly dying. The rules
quoted are generally ridiculous leftovers from Latin
with little or no application to modern English. A
review of the history of the English language will
show that many modern "rules" are only former "errors"
that became the standard. If native speakers of a
lanuage understand an utterance it is correct.
Language is about communication, not arbitrary
standards.
The real use of these rules is only to make
distinctions regarding class and education. What
grammar books call "right" is only a prestige dialect.
Knowing this dialect is beneficial, as its use
implies that the user is a member of the prestige
class that speaks this dialect. It is not more
correct than other options.
Zach
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