4 ms·

Except we are talking about the English language. And it does have rules, they are called grammar. Plus, you're using the bandwagon fallacy. Just because a lot

by mrcold 11y ago

Except we are talking about the English language. And it does have rules, they are called grammar. Plus, you're using the bandwagon fallacy. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it right.

smt88 11y ago
First of all, "bandwagon fallacy" doesn't make sense here. If I said, "English as it's commonly used is correct because everyone tells me it is," you could say that I'm jumping on a bandwagon. What I'm saying is that "English as it's commonly used is correct because that's what defines the language itself." Language is, by its definition, a function of bandwagoning. Second, you're utterly wrong about there being hard and fast rules to language. It's important that you look this up, or you'll go through more of your life being upset about something trivial and subjective. If you do a little googling, I'm sure you'll see that there is no central authority to define the rules of language. In fact, for any language, there are many competing standards. The "rules" you seem to be referring to (which I'm not limiting to grammar, but also including pronunciation, syntax, etc.) are prescriptive. Someone codified them at some point, and they were adopted by a general population. But there are also descriptive rules for language, which refer to how people actually speak and write. These are often incorporated into newly-published or newly-revised sets of prescriptive rules. Descriptive rules may also change due to prescriptions, as is the case of avoiding ending a sentence in a preposition. So both prescriptive rules and descriptive rules are valid, and there's no single source of "truth" for any of them. Here are some examples of things that many people (you included?) probably think are forbidden in English but are actually fine: - Ending sentences with prepositions[1][2][3] - Splitting infinitives[4] - Using "whose" to refer to inanimate objects[5] 1. http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-prepositions/ http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-pre... 2. http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/youve-been-lied-to-heres-why-you-absolutely-can-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition/ http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/youve-been-lied-to-heres-... 3. http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/terminalprepositionmyth.htm http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/terminalpreposition... 4. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive: "As the split infinitive became more common in the 19th century, some grammatical authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule against it. The construction is still the subject of disagreement among English speakers as to whether it is grammatically correct or good style: "No other grammatical issue has so divided English speakers since the split infinitive was declared to be a solecism in the 19c [19th century]: raise the subject of English usage in any conversation today and it is sure to be mentioned. However, most modern English usage guides have dropped the objection to the split infinitive." 5. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23541/can-whose-refer-to-an-inanimate-object http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23541/can-whose-r...
- sunfarm 11y ago
  Do you pronounce smt88 as "S-M-T eighty-eight" or "smart-dude-who-knows-his-shit eighty-eight?"
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
mobiplayer 11y ago
Does English really have official rules? I thought not, and that was why some dictionaries started adding words like "irregardless" (sic). Maybe this is just a skewed point of view of a Spanish native speaker, as we have an official organism accepted by nearly all Spanish speaking countries, that looks after the language and updates the rules at least once per year.
SigmundA 11y ago
Go read a copy of The Canterbury Tales in it's original english and tell if it follows those rules. Languages are not set in stone they evolve. Just because a lot of people do it is exactly what language "rules" are, nothing more.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

by mrcold 11y ago

Except we are talking about the English language. And it does have rules, they are called grammar. Plus, you're using the bandwagon fallacy. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it right.

smt88 11y ago

First of all, "bandwagon fallacy" doesn't make sense here. If I said, "English as it's commonly used is correct because everyone tells me it is," you could say that I'm jumping on a bandwagon. What I'm saying is that "English as it's commonly used is correct because that's what defines the language itself." Language is, by its definition, a function of bandwagoning. Second, you're utterly wrong about there being hard and fast rules to language. It's important that you look this up, or you'll go through more of your life being upset about something trivial and subjective. If you do a little googling, I'm sure you'll see that there is no central authority to define the rules of language. In fact, for any language, there are many competing standards. The "rules" you seem to be referring to (which I'm not limiting to grammar, but also including pronunciation, syntax, etc.) are prescriptive. Someone codified them at some point, and they were adopted by a general population. But there are also descriptive rules for language, which refer to how people actually speak and write. These are often incorporated into newly-published or newly-revised sets of prescriptive rules. Descriptive rules may also change due to prescriptions, as is the case of avoiding ending a sentence in a preposition. So both prescriptive rules and descriptive rules are valid, and there's no single source of "truth" for any of them. Here are some examples of things that many people (you included?) probably think are forbidden in English but are actually fine: - Ending sentences with prepositions[1][2][3] - Splitting infinitives[4] - Using "whose" to refer to inanimate objects[5] 1. http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-prepositions/ http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-pre... 2. http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/youve-been-lied-to-heres-why-you-absolutely-can-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition/ http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2014/youve-been-lied-to-heres-... 3. http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/terminalprepositionmyth.htm http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/terminalpreposition... 4. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive: "As the split infinitive became more common in the 19th century, some grammatical authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule against it. The construction is still the subject of disagreement among English speakers as to whether it is grammatically correct or good style: "No other grammatical issue has so divided English speakers since the split infinitive was declared to be a solecism in the 19c [19th century]: raise the subject of English usage in any conversation today and it is sure to be mentioned. However, most modern English usage guides have dropped the objection to the split infinitive." 5. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23541/can-whose-refer-to-an-inanimate-object http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/23541/can-whose-r...

sunfarm 11y ago
Do you pronounce smt88 as "S-M-T eighty-eight" or "smart-dude-who-knows-his-shit eighty-eight?"
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

mobiplayer 11y ago

Does English really have official rules? I thought not, and that was why some dictionaries started adding words like "irregardless" (sic). Maybe this is just a skewed point of view of a Spanish native speaker, as we have an official organism accepted by nearly all Spanish speaking countries, that looks after the language and updates the rules at least once per year.

SigmundA 11y ago

Go read a copy of The Canterbury Tales in it's original english and tell if it follows those rules. Languages are not set in stone they evolve. Just because a lot of people do it is exactly what language "rules" are, nothing more.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]