7 Grammatical
Errors That Aren’t
by
Mark Nichol
There are two types of grammar:
Descriptive, which describes what is customary, and
prescriptive grammar, which prescribes what should be. A
tension between the two systems is inevitable — and healthy; it
keeps us thinking about what we’re saying and writing.
Allowing mob rule at the expense of
some governing of composition is madness, but a diction dictatorship
is dangerous, too. As with any prescription, an overdose is
contraindicated. Here are some hard pills to swallow for language
mavens who require a strict adherence to rigid syntactical patterns
at the expense of, well, language:
1. Never split an
infinitive.
It isn’t wise to always ignore this fallacious rule against dividing the elements of the verb phrase “to (verb)” with an adverb, but to blindly follow it is to prohibit pleasing turns of phrase — one of the best known of which is from the introductory voice-over from all the Star Trek television series: “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” (The original series, produced before the more recent sensitivity to gender bias, put it “no man.”)
It isn’t wise to always ignore this fallacious rule against dividing the elements of the verb phrase “to (verb)” with an adverb, but to blindly follow it is to prohibit pleasing turns of phrase — one of the best known of which is from the introductory voice-over from all the Star Trek television series: “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” (The original series, produced before the more recent sensitivity to gender bias, put it “no man.”)
2. Never end a sentence with a
preposition.
This rule is ridiculous, to start with. If you believe it, please tell me what planet you are from. What are you striving for? Give it up. Am I getting my point across?
This rule is ridiculous, to start with. If you believe it, please tell me what planet you are from. What are you striving for? Give it up. Am I getting my point across?
The stricture against closing sentences
with words that describe position stems from an eighteen-century
fetish for the supposed perfection of classical Latin, which allowed
no split infinitives — for the excellent reason that Latin
infinitives consist of single words. English, however, being a
distant relative of that language, should be allowed to form its own
customs.
3. Never begin a sentence with
a conjunction.
And why not? For an honorable tradition of doing just that exists. But some people persist in prohibiting this technique. Yet we defy them. Or we simply ignore them or laugh at them, neither of which they appreciate. Nor do they understand our attitude, though we try to convince them, and will continue to do so. So there.
And why not? For an honorable tradition of doing just that exists. But some people persist in prohibiting this technique. Yet we defy them. Or we simply ignore them or laugh at them, neither of which they appreciate. Nor do they understand our attitude, though we try to convince them, and will continue to do so. So there.
The words beginning each of these
sentences are conjunctions, easily recalled with the mnemonic
FANBOYS. Every one is perfectly acceptable at the head of a sentence.
As is obvious from the previous paragraph, however, a little goes a
long way.
4. Distinguish between while
and though.
Petty prescriptivists would have you reserve while for temporal usage only: “While I agree, I resist,” they say, should be revised to “Though I agree, I resist.” I freely admit that I often change while to though, and while I understand — I’m sorry, I can’t stop myself — and though I understand that it may seem pedantic, I think though reads better.
Petty prescriptivists would have you reserve while for temporal usage only: “While I agree, I resist,” they say, should be revised to “Though I agree, I resist.” I freely admit that I often change while to though, and while I understand — I’m sorry, I can’t stop myself — and though I understand that it may seem pedantic, I think though reads better.
5. Distinguish between since
and because.
Ditto. And ditto. I concur that indiscriminate replacement of since with because may seem persnickety, but since — ahem — because I find the latter word more pleasing, I will reserve the right to prefer it.
Ditto. And ditto. I concur that indiscriminate replacement of since with because may seem persnickety, but since — ahem — because I find the latter word more pleasing, I will reserve the right to prefer it.
6. Use data
only in the plural sense.
Where did they get this data? The alternative is to use datum in the singular sense, which makes you sound like a propellerhead. (Look it up, kids.) People who say “datum” get data, but they don’t get dates.
Where did they get this data? The alternative is to use datum in the singular sense, which makes you sound like a propellerhead. (Look it up, kids.) People who say “datum” get data, but they don’t get dates.
7. Use none
only in the singular sense.
None of these rules, followed strictly, allow for a vernacular ease with language.
None of these rules, followed strictly, allow for a vernacular ease with language.
Did that sentence hurt? Did the waves
stop crashing to shore? Did Earth stop spinning? If you wish to
replace none with “not one” or “no one” (“Not one
person admitted guilt”; “No one saw that coming”), by all
means, do so, but fear not none in a plural sense.
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