Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Long on pique …

… The Bad Grammar awards are prize stupidity | Culture | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

On the odd occasion when they do happen to tackle grammatical structures, these self-appointed language guardians are the ones who always get things wrong – "most tastiest" for example, isn't a mistake but a popular and perfectly valid emphatic construction. 
Does that mean, then, that what these others call bad grammar is, in fact, good grammar? Is there such a thing as correct grammar? Did Mr. Ritchie set out to write correctly when he wrote this screed, or was no such consideration necessary? The awards in question may be silly, and those awarding them may not know what they are talking or talking about, but there do seem to be rules of grammar worth observing. Perhaps Mr. Ritchie should give us an example of grammar-free communication. 

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