Organizations don’t make grammar rules, populations do
My good friend Nic examines how a small group of people defining what grammar is are wrong: “Grammar books don’t make grammar rules; populations do. In the past, language changed much more slowly, or at least, our ability to track changes in language was slow. However, that is no longer the case. So, next time, you go to use ‘E-mail’ just because it’s in a grammar book be wary because you probably mean ’email’.”
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Communication is actually related to the word common. We communicate because we have a common understanding of symbols (words) that represent things. Bread, car, dog, etc…
People commonly understand these terms in different languages. Grammar is the same way. 15 years ago people couldn’t talk about Harry Potter, but they can today. Same with Google, YouTube, blogging, etc…
So, when some yahoo tries to say that we should use e-mail and everyone uses email, what do you think wins?
Actually, if you want the real history, yes, people make grammar rules–people who write grammar books. No split infinitives? Don’t end a sentence with a preposition? These were one man’s opinion–he was trying to make English more like Latin. Bishop Lowth (the guy with a grudge against sentence-final prepositions) actually took negative examples from Shakespeare, the KJV, Donne, Milton, Swift &c. Check it out:
University of Oregon
Wikipedia (Bishop Lowth)
This site gives a difference between those type of grammar books and how most linguists (including me) are trained today:Rutgers.
And a final note of interest: the Email Experience Council, self-appointed regulatory agency of “email” marketing, announced that the spelling of the word is, officially, “email.” But most of the columnists on the council are forced to use “e-mail” in their columns because their publishers adhere to the AP Stylebook. It’s not a grammar guide–it’s just to make sure you don’t see email, e-mail, eMail and electronic mail all in the same article.
I’ll be sure to tell Nick as well.