Dear Steve,

I read your query that was posted to the ATEG grammar list and thought I
would respond.

English used to have many more irregular verbs than it now has. The
trend in English over the last 1500 years has been for irregular verbs
to become regular. The changes in 'dive' and 'plead' are an example of
this phenomenon.

Irregular forms tend to hang on best in verbs of basic meaning and high
frequency. For this reason, common verbs like 'take', 'eat', etc. are
likely to remain irregular for  centuries. However, verbs that are less
frequently used, such as 'plead' and 'dive', and 'strive' (for another
example), tend to regularize.

This regularization happens in speech. There is a period during which
both the older irregular forms and the new regularized forms are in use;
the population will divide along those who find the old one better, the
new one better, and those to whom both or neither sound right. This is
normal. Changes in language take time to 'settle out'.

Written language is under more-conscious control. It is subject to
'regulations' introduced by writers of manuals and stylebooks, as well
as grammar and writing teachers. No one really has the right to forbid a
word unless the larger community decides to accord that person such
authority. Most attempts to prohibit or prevent language change are
futile; the spoken form sooner or later worms its way into written
usage; the more conservative authorities literally die off; eventually,
the older forms are forgotten.

The Times seems to be favoring regularization and consistency (not
accepting both the irregular and regular forms). This is a bit unusual;
language authorities usually insist on maintaining the older form out of
some feeling that it's 'better' or 'more correct'. (Use of the newer
form is often attributed to laziness or stupidity rather than the normal
and natural phenomenon of language change.)

Language, even written language, isn't shaped by policy decisions made
by some 'official' committee somewhere. The large community of users of
the language ultimately determines what will be considered correct.
There is always an area of contention as the self-styled authorities
attempt to impose what they feel is 'most correct', but they are
swimming against the tide in most cases.

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-259
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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"Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
but that's not why people do it normally"  -            Frank  Oppenheimer
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