Ben Varner wrote:

> The following are fifteen so-called grammar and punctuation
> "rules" which are not rules at all.  When I sent this list to
> the elementary school teachers whom I teach about grammar and
> punctuation, they were astounded:
>
>     1. Never use "Because,""And," or "But" to start a sentence.
>     2. Fragments are always considered an error in writing.
>     3. Where you pause, put a comma.
>     4. Where you breathe, put a comma.
>     5. Never put a comma before "and" in a series.
>     6. The semicolon is an outdated mark of punctuation.
>     7. The most important part of speech is the noun.
>     8. The pronouns "everybody," "somebody," "anybody" are plural.
>     9. The pronoun "who" is always first, and the pronoun "whom" is
>        always last.
>    10. Dashes and hyphens are interchangeable marks of punctuation.
>    11. Periods and commas can go inside or outside of quotation marks.
>    12. Never end a sentence with a preposition.
>    13. Never split an infinitive.
>    14. Passive voice means you are too casual in your sentences.
>    15. Grammar checkers on computers are usually correct.
>
> If you have any others to add, let me know.
>
>        Ben Varner
>
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> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

Ben,

I have heard most of these from my students.

My question is, Where do they come from, and why do they stick around?

The easy answer is stupidity, but does the fact that they persist say 
anything about people's concept of language?

Marshall

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