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I'd be interested in why this is such a sticking point and the language doesn't just evolve to accept this phrasing. American English seems to have accepted tha
by PakG1 8y ago
I'd be interested in why this is such a sticking point and the language doesn't just evolve to accept this phrasing. American English seems to have accepted that you can end sentences with a preposition, or is that just my misconception? I believe Canada and the UK still doesn't like it, or is that my misconception too? But my point is why doesn't the language evolve along with informal societal usage?
- garmaine 8y agoIt does. Ignore the pandits.
- geomark 8y agoI am no stickler for grammar but when you take out the other people you get "... while me was growing" and to the native Enlish ear that sounds pretty terrible compared to "... while I was growing".
- PakG1 8y agoTalk with a pirate accent and it'll sound natural. ;)
- mrob 8y agoIt's a proxy for social class. If you accept informal language as standard usage, how will you filter out the plebs?
- sureaboutthis 8y agoIt is grammatic structure of a sentence. I was taught this in grade school. It was emphasized in high school.
- PakG1 8y agoYou missed the point of my question. :)
- sureaboutthis 8y agoYou asked why it doesn't evolve. I'm saying that you are asking why writing doesn't change its fundamental structure for what reason? To fit into people who are doing it wrong? I can't think of anyone in my circle of friends, family and business who don't say it correctly. I know my rather large circle is not everybody but neither are the people who use it incorrectly and I fail to see the point in changing to incorrect usage.
- pessimizer 8y agoIt's not part of the fundamental structure of English, it's just a class affectation. Language is not mathematical.
- sureaboutthis 8y agoUh, I spent a good amount of time in the eighth grade learning language diagramming and structure. None of that was mathematical so I don't know where you got that from. Nor is it an affectation.
- ams6110 8y agoIt does evolve, one that always catches my eye is the singular "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun. It was drummed into me in school that this was incorrect, and I always notice it. That said, I do sometimes catch myself using it, but I almost always go back and correct it.
- pessimizer 8y agoEnglish has always accepted this construction and correcting it has always been prescriptive, just as ending a sentence with a preposition has always been. There have never been grammatical rules in those cases, just grammatical demands.