July 2021

View our original newsletter here: Worry Less about Grammar and More About Clarity and Credibility

Grammar "Rules"

Language changes over time, so “the rules” for correct writing change, too.

Speaking functions completely differently than writing. Grammar matters in language because word order is the way that we build and exchange meaning. A simple sentence becomes incomprehensible if the words aren’t in the correct order or don’t follow the understood grammar rules. 

BUT different groups of people develop their own rules that can be understood by others in the same group. 

What grammar supports your audience’s understanding of your message? What grammar demonstrates your credibility to your audience?

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Quick Tip: Worry less about grammar, proofreading, and correctness as “rules” and more about clarity and credibility.

 

Don't Just Take Our Word For It

See what other industry experts are saying about the grammar and the ways language changes over time...

Is English Changing? "Yes, and so is every other human language! Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. This isn't a bad thing; if English hadn't changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn't have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language..."

Is English Changing? 

"Yes, and so is every other human language! Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. This isn't a bad thing; if English hadn't changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn't have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language..."

‘Good Grammar’ Comes From Privilege, Not Virtue"A punctuation mark has a fandom. As an editor, I should be giddy. A nuance of language is having its day! But my gut has drawn itself down. I’m talking, of course, about the Oxford comma and those wild sentences that prove the universe will lose its bearings without it... The same zeitgeist drives the recent popularity of the “grammar vigilante” of Bristol, England..."

‘Good Grammar’ Comes From Privilege, Not Virtue

"A punctuation mark has a fandom. As an editor, I should be giddy. A nuance of language is having its day! But my gut has drawn itself down. I’m talking, of course, about the Oxford comma and those wild sentences that prove the universe will lose its bearings without it... The same zeitgeist drives the recent popularity of the “grammar vigilante” of Bristol, England..."

 

Here's a playlist of several TED Talks about language and how it changes over time.

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Go Further

Want to know where we got this tip? A variety of resources. But the book Words and Rules by Steven Pinker gives some great examples of language change!

"have-had make-made... Originally these were haved and maked, but enough lazy speakers swallowed the consonants that at some point in the Middle English period speakers didn’t hear them and assumed that they were not there at all” p. 58

"have-had 

make-made... 

Originally these were haved and maked, but enough lazy speakers swallowed the consonants that at some point in the Middle English period speakers didn’t hear them and assumed that they were not there at all” p. 58

 

Quote of the Month

 “All languages change through the centuries. We do not speak like Shakespeare (1564-1616), who did not speak like Chaucer (1343-1400), who did not speak like the author of Beowulf (around 750-800). As the changes take place, people feel the ground eroding under their feet and in every era have predicted the imminent demise of the language. Yet the twelve hundred years of changes since Beowulf have not left us grunting like Tarzan…” Steven Pinker, Words and Rules, p.47