Prine wrote:
Gambit3le wrote:
I get the feeling that you were taught that Grammar is PROSCRIPTIVE, and thus a total be all and end all for the formulation of language.
I was taught grammar by editors who would've hit me with a stick if I'd told them that it didn't matter and was wholly subjective. I don't know what word you're looking for, but grammar isn't it. Grammar is the rules-of-use that give a language that structure which makes it a language, as opposed to a bunch of meaningless gibberish. If it wasn't necessary then languages would be much easier to learn. Grammar evolves over time, but English grammar hasn't yet evolved to the point where using a perfect tense verb as an imperative is acceptable. If it
was acceptable we wouldn't be having this discussion, because it wouldn't have looked and sounded wrong to so many people, even people who don't know or care what a perfect tense verb or imperative mood are.
:o :o
That's one good reason to eliminate rulers of all sorts from the classroom. :)
Your argument is not only circular, it is recursive ... kinda like flying up your own ass. :D
FYI, the grammar is correct there. It is an archaic form that has been proscribed by
some acadamian grammar nazis', of which, thou art one, methinks. I was only briefly confused when I made my original post. The parser error has been corrected, the syntax analyser reconfigured, the LALR resolver now has an acceptable exit case, and it all makes perfect sense to me. This was only caused by a brief confuddlement. ;)
Gambit is actually correct, as is
Yoda-speak. You would be amazed at how unintelligible you can make a basic statement whilst remaining within the bounds of academically acceptable grammar. Read any Master's Thesis of the past 30 years for proof of the foregoing. The art is in both the telling and the listening.
BTW, quoting external sources in PHBB is best done thusly;
James Nicoll wrote:
“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary. “
Note in particular that Shakespear would flunk those modern grammar classes and we would mutually incomprehensible on a verbal level.