> When most native English speakers think about "bad grammar", what they actually are referring to are a combination of dialectical differences and archaic rule

> When most native English speakers think about "bad grammar", what they actually are referring to are a combination of dialectical differences and archaic rules that rarely were ever true grammatical rules—more of stylistic preferences that have to be taught precisely because they aren't a part of colloquial speech. You've said this in a couple of comments, at least, but what is it based on? To my knowledge and in my experience, the 'rules' of grammar arose from the study of language as it is used. Could you give some examples of artificial rules? Edit: Also there are universal aspects to grammar, found in completely disconnected cultures, strongly implying an inherited foundation to them. Here's a non-exhaustive list based on Donald Brown's Human Universals, the seminal book on such things, language and otherwise. Unfortunately, not much detail here on grammar, but my point is more about the inherited, not learned or created, nature of much language. (The categorization is by me, not Brown.) * Grammar * Semantics * Semantic category of affecting things and people * Semantic category of dimension * Semantic category of giving * Semantic category of location * Semantic category of motion * Semantic category of other physical properties * Semantic components * Semantic components, generation * Semantic components, sex * Vowel contrasts * Nouns * Personal names * Pronouns * Pronouns, minimum two numbers * Pronouns, minimum three persons * Proper names * Verbs * Numerals (counting) * Antonyms * Metonym * Morphemes * Polysemy (one word has several meanings) * Phonemes * Phonemes defined by set of minimally constrasting features * Phonemes, merging of * Phonemes, range from 10 to 70 in number * Phonemic change, inevitability of * Phonemic change, rules of * Phonemic system * Vocalic/nonvocalic contrasts in phonemes * Contrasting marked and nonmarked sememes meaningful elements in language) * Markedness * Onomatopoeia * Synonyms * Sememes, commonly used ones are short, infrequently used ones Are longer * Possessive, intimate * Possessive, loose * Translatable * Stop/nonstop contrasts (in speech sounds) * Words * Age terms * Black (color term) * Face (word for) * Father and mother, separate kin terms for * Hand (word for) * One (numeral) * Two (numeral) * Units of time * White (color term) * Techniques * Abstraction in speech & thought * Baby talk * Figurative speech * Linguistic redundancy * Marking at phonemic, syntactic, and lexical levels * Metaphor * Synesthetic metaphors * Not a simple reflection of reality * Symbolism * Symbolic speech EDIT2: For those wondering, a 'marked' word is the non-default one in a binary pair of words. For example, for author & authoress, 'author' could mean any gender and is therefore 'unmarked'; 'authoress' specifies only women is therefore 'marked'. Or in a more interesting example, "In the case of 'wide' and 'narrow', 'wide' is the unmarked word: asking 'How wide is the road?' does not suggest that the road is wide, but asking 'How narrow is the road?' does suggest that the road is narrow." My impression (I'm not an expert at all) is that 'marked' words and unmarked words also are associated with specific kinds of sounds or structures.