Grammar 'Rules' Have Changed

1 hour ago

Just read this from Readers Digest - made me think of all the lively discussions/debates here about such things...

https://www.rd.com/list/grammar-rules-changed-last-decade/

"Are you keeping up as grammar rules change?

Attention, grammar police! As a longtime copy editor and self-proclaimed “grammar enforcer,” I make it my mission to follow the rules of punctuation and syntax. But lately, I’ve noticed a growing number of blogs, social media posts and texts that seem to ignore the grammar guidelines I learned in school (granted, that was a while ago). This led me to wonder: Are all these people just getting it wrong—or have the rules actually changed?

Short answer: There are, in fact, many grammar rules that have changed. “Language evolves because people use it,” says Lisa McLendon, PhD, a professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Kansas. “The only languages that don’t change are dead languages. Latin no longer changes because no one speaks Latin anymore.”

In fact, grammar rules are constantly shifting, explains Mignon Fogarty, host of the Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing podcast. “Every day people are going to talk and write the way that works best for them,” she says. “And that often changes over a lifetime and in different situations.”

Some of the biggest shifts in grammar over the past decade have been shaped by how we communicate today—texting, tweeting, typing more than we talk. “I know that there are people out there who are like, ‘Oh my god, texting and social media have just ruined grammar,’” says McLendon. “In some ways, they’ve strengthened it because so much communication is written rather than spoken.” AutoCorrect and predictive text have even nudged us back toward proper punctuation and capitalization—though plenty of people still refuse to end a single-sentence text with a period. (Me? I’ll keep my periods, even if Gen Alpha thinks they’re “aggressive.”)

Curious which grammar rules have changed? Keep reading, because we have a dozen that might surprise you...."

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Comments (6)

Alisande
1 hour ago
". . . plenty of people still refuse to end a single-sentence text with a period." Really? Is that a thing? I can't imagine why.
arcy_gw
39 minutes ago
So lazy will change how we do things? Probably not in the long run. Because lazy rules the texting, IM, snap worlds does not mean it will transfer to the actual written word.
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Interesting pronunciations, Mary. Yours are different from mine, which are, I suppose, of the west-of-the-Mississippi sort. I (and most American westerners) pronounce rather with the hard /th/ of than, the, though, not the soft /th/ of thorn, thick, thin...wrath. Does your wrath end with the hard /th/? I definitely don't rhyme rather with father. Neither do I rhyme father with water. My "water" rhymes with cotter (the closest real word that I can think of at the moment). Vee, I doubt any transcription will give you the proper idea of how Americans pronounce farther, so I suggest you visit a site with audio of American pronunciations. I can attempt it but I doubt it will do any good. However, here goes: Think of the letter R and how Americans say it (the letter itself) -- It is "Ar" with the tongue curled. Pirates supposedly say "Argh!" an awful lot -- the beginning of their word is the same as the American pronunciation of the letter R (not to be confused with the sound of every R, though -- initial, internal, or ultimate). The English I know tend to pronounce the letter R as "Ah" without curling the tongue. This is important because it is one of the primary reasons American English sounds different from English English. This one letter causes more problems and misunderstandings, I think, than any other. The English (and some American-English speakers) who cannot curl their tongues for R, or even imagine that sound, will not comprehend this, I'm afraid. Okay, here's how I would transcribe farther, keeping in mind that many (most) Americans definitely pronounce the R in the position of the way it is spelled. FAR-thur -- the AR sound is the same as in the pirate's "argh!" The /th/ is hard as in thou, and the /ur/ sounds just about identical to the Cockney pronunciation of her: 'er.Maybe that will help, but I think it's probably a matter of being very familiar with American pronunciations as compared to those of English- or British- or Australian-English. Pronunciations really need to be heard, not transcribed, but transcription will give a pretty good idea if both transcriber and reader are familiar with the same sounds and conventions.
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OutsidePlaying
23 minutes ago
I guess we all better look out for those dang aggressive periods. If they ‘behave’ that way, imagine what a question mark or exclamation point are like.
KW PNW Z8
15 minutes ago
last modified: 14 minutes ago
The topic here is grammar not punctuation. I was pretty sure I’m correct in thinking those are two different topics so I did look it up. Google agrees with me per the following:

No, strictly speaking, punctuation is not part of grammar. Grammar is the structural system of a language that governs word order, tense, and parts of speech. Punctuation consists of the visual symbols and mechanics used in writing to clarify meaning and guide the reader's pacing.

However, we all have likely seen the example of poor punctuation affecting our written message. Like this: Time to eat, grandma. Or, Time to eat grandma. Yikes!
foodonastump
10 minutes ago
last modified: 9 minutes ago
The author seems to enjoy using the em dash. That commonly raises suspicion that it may have been written by AI. I also noticed the lack of terminal comma. I’m quite sure that’s how I was taught and it’s how I prefer to write, but I’m forced to admit it’s less standard. I generally include it now.

As for the period in one sentence texts, I learned to avoid it when my daughter brought it to my attention:

Please come downstairs.

Please come downstairs

I actually totally get why one sounds like a request and one sounds aggressive.

Before anyone objects, let me offer this: It’s a common interpretation at this point whether you get it or not. Texting is an abbreviated form of communication, so subtle differences can make an outsized impact on how you’re read. It’s worth being aware of these in order to avoid unintended tone.
bpath
9 minutes ago
A period in texting apparently gives an aggressive tone. I’m not sure why. I use it. My kids use it, at least with me.

Despite style manuals, I have no problem ending a sentence with a preposition, starting a sentence with a conjunction, and using the Oxford comma. All when appropriate, of course.

Grammar changes. But it is essential that meaning remain clear, and sometimes lax grammar can really muddy the meaning.

Do not get me started on pronunciation. ”Lazy” is why we have words such as ”don’t” and ”you’re”. Many people who complain about the use of such ”lazy speech” as ”gonna” and ”tuh” for ”to” use them, and emphatically deny it.

Grammar 'Rules' Have Changed

Comments (6)

Alisande

arcy_gw

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