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I disagree that the vast majority of prescriptive
rules actually facilitate efficient and effective
communication. I am not against standards entirely.
That position is clearly ridiculous. I only ask that
the standard of intelligibility by a native speaker be
the primary standard. Everything else is neither
correct nor incorrect, but a matter of style. I
believe that teaching an effective writing style
should be a high priority for our schoools, but I
believe the best way to do this is through practice,
feedback, and exposure to large quantities of good
examples, not through rules like "breech is a noun."
In the end wee can argue the merits of one style over
another, but I don't think any style choice deserves
the reprimand the use of the word breech received.
This habit of noun to verb conversion seems to be
remarkably productive and important in the English
language.
Best,
Zach Wolff