3 ms·

I’m sure it was for some people, and that’s what I used and learned in college too, but ever since then I’ve seen no end to “rules” about language that lose the

by dahart 3y ago

I’m sure it was for some people, and that’s what I used and learned in college too, but ever since then I’ve seen no end to “rules” about language that lose their qualifiers over time, are applied out of context, or are sometimes just not true and weren’t rules until someone misinterpreted some advice or just decided to demand their way was ‘correct’ and it somehow spread. It’s pretty surprising how many conventions we have that people consider canonical but didn’t used to be.

IggleSniggle 3y ago
The Oxford comma wasn't a rule when I was a kid, but at least that rule has some good reasoning behind it!
- dahart 3y ago
  It was a rule somewhere, right? It was printed in a style manual in 1905. (I am totally assuming you’re not 115 years old. ;) )
  - IggleSniggle 3y ago
    Ha! Perhaps I should have said "when/where." I was specifically taught the rule was optional. A brief perusal of the Wikipedia article on the subject helps me understand that it should have been taught as "situational." And I learned about Sir Roger Casement's "hanged on a comma," so that's cool. Since it took me a minute to track down, here's the short of it so that I don't accidentally nerd-snipe anyone: http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question43706.html http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtri...