Thank you; I try my best to write/speak well :) I'm an English teacher -- I should be "good"; otherwise, I need to find a new line of business. My dad always pushed "even if you're a ditch digger, be the best damn ditch digger you can be".
Yes, I know that many, especially in my chosen profession, are not. Fml.
English is a language that has a certain amount of flexibility; what is formally correct may not be commonly so as it is above all else a language that is spoken. However, some have taken so many liberties to this maxim as to destroy the meanings of terms and phrases (ex.: liberal). This is highly dangerous, especially in the age of the internet where a spoken language can lose accuracy.
PS. I also believe that academicians need to get out into the world -- I can dig a pretty mean ditch too (at least when I was younger)!
Lol. I really appreciate a person of refined and precise language. Language defines thought. Thought defines action. Action defines the world. :)
I'm a screenwriter, btw. The funny thing about us is that we're deliberately hellbent on throwing the rules of grammar aside in order to convey quick, visual meaning.
It's fun, but part of me always recoils at the lingual atrocities I must commit.
Here's the deal with English: once you know the rules really well, you can break them. Think Hemingway and Faulkner.
English is a spoken language -- find a way; I know you can.
Thank you; I try my best to write/speak well :) I'm an English teacher -- I should be "good"; otherwise, I need to find a new line of business. My dad always pushed "even if you're a ditch digger, be the best damn ditch digger you can be". Yes, I know that many, especially in my chosen profession, are not. Fml.
English is a language that has a certain amount of flexibility; what is formally correct may not be commonly so as it is above all else a language that is spoken. However, some have taken so many liberties to this maxim as to destroy the meanings of terms and phrases (ex.: liberal). This is highly dangerous, especially in the age of the internet where a spoken language can lose accuracy.
PS. I also believe that academicians need to get out into the world -- I can dig a pretty mean ditch too (at least when I was younger)!
Lol. I really appreciate a person of refined and precise language. Language defines thought. Thought defines action. Action defines the world. :)
I'm a screenwriter, btw. The funny thing about us is that we're deliberately hellbent on throwing the rules of grammar aside in order to convey quick, visual meaning.
It's fun, but part of me always recoils at the lingual atrocities I must commit.
Here's the deal with English: once you know the rules really well, you can break them. Think Hemingway and Faulkner. English is a spoken language -- find a way; I know you can.