#descriptive grammar

[descriptivechaos]

Trying not to bust out my degree whenever ppl try to claim some bullshit abt etymology or grammar or translation as true in my vicinity

[writerystuff]

THAT PET PEEVE

A lot of people have commented on my comprise - compose - consist post, and some of them disagree strongly, not really with what I wrote but with the fact that I wrote it--that I seem to be espousing prescriptive grammar.

Language is evolving, yes. New words are being coined, yes. I have pretty much no problem with that. What I'm mostly peeved about is not gain but loss.

When we lost the distinction between "uninterested" and "disinterested," we lost the meaning that "disinterested" used to have, as a synonym for "impartial."

But, I hear you say, if we have "impartial," why do we need "disinterested"? Well, since "uninterested" and "disinterested" now mean the same thing, why do we need "uninterested"?

See what I mean? We lose a tiny fraction of the linguistic richness of English, which enables so many different connotations, layers of meaning, subtle distinctions, and so on--which is something that is, or should be, important to writers.

And in some cases, we lose words. We have lost the word "damp" as a verb. The inertial dampers on the Enterprise used to damp the effects of inertia. Now the Chief Engineer talks about "dampening" the effects of inertia. Context tells us what she means--but we've lost a word. We now make "dampen" mean two very different things.

So that in brief is why I am, in some cases, a prescriptivist.

And there's also the fact that, as I mentioned in that post, there are people who will judge you on your grammar. The people who do that are prescriptivists, and they may well use your "ignorance" to your disadvantage. The person who uses "comprise" correctly (= in the prescriptive sense) will get the job, or the promotion. So it's not a bad idea to at least know the rules.

My thoughts. Feel free to add your comments.

[0oeneneo0]

Descriptive grammar:(

[hunterthompsonlockwood-blog]

Slid, slad, slode

It’s no secret that English grammar is really weird. The only insight I will add to that, with a Ph.D. in linguistics nearly in hand, is that the grammar of all languages is also really weird.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the following interaction among Redditors:

The issue is apparent immediately. The original poster, in green, says that a group of people “fell/slided a few meters.” Slided, of course, is not prescriptively correct, but does appear (infrequently) in English, even in edited work. 

The top reply in orange just repeats the error, simply saying slided again, almost in veneration or amazement. A correction is provided, by purple. This is no surprise; Redditors pride themselves on the standardness of their spelling, punctuation, and grammar sometimes to the point of zealotry. As the purple user notes, slid is the preferred standard English past tense form of slide. So you get hide:hidden:hid and slide:slidden:slid. Yeah, seriously: slidden is mostly obsolete now, but in older sources and hypercorrect works, it pops up: 

Then, a whole chain of jokes arises naturally from the shared intuition that something about slide:slid is just...weird. Slode, one person in red offers up. Slad, replies light blue.

We know, as native speakers of the language, that those aren’t right. They just can’t be. We might not know what’s right...but whatever right is, it ain’t that. 

And yet, there’s a kernel of truth to them: slad really is an old past tense of slide (though pronounced like sod and not like had). Slode, of course, is built on the analogy of words like ride:ridden:rode. As a word, it's simply dreadful; it reminds me of a race of sluglike beastfolk - and that’s overlooking the Urban Dictionary entries for slode or sload, mostly just disgusting portmanteaux. 

...And guess what? 

Slode is real. 

Take in this delightful entry from John McLellan's (1978) “More Figures of Speech,” especially the sample sentence in the second paragraph:

So there you go. Some people think that the English language has gotten worse over time, or that it’s bad now and it used to be good. But I think we can all agree that no matter how far our language has slidden since the 1400s, it’s probably for the best that it never slode down that path.

...actually nevermind, #team slode

[0oeneneo0]

Descriptive grammar notes and my cute sloth pen

[lsbnviking]

just got into an argument with my stepmom because she was asking about grammar rules and wanting to know which was the better way to say something (real tall v. really tall) and I said it doesn’t matter because you’re understood either way and the only time it will be something you need to think about is when you’re writing something in an official capacity and then she asked me if I wrote in SAE (thinking I did)

BOY WAS SHE SURPRISED WHEN I SAID I WRITE IN A WAY THAT IS ORGANIC TO THE PoV CHARACTER!

[doctorfluff]

“Banish the darkness from our caves and illuminate the insides of our refrigerators” - aka my descriptive grammar sample sentences in exercises... 

[doctorfluff]

Ok WHY people from my group keep asking me for help with the descriptive grammar? This subject is hell and I do not see any reason why should I know better than anyone else...

Unless I do. But that would be sad.