Unfortunately, whenever grammar comes up as a public issue--which it does quite rarely--it's generally about why the stuffy, elitist, traditional grammar folk have it all wrong. Grammar is generally framed as a question about whether we should try to "control" or "improve" the language or simply let it go its own way. Neither solution seems particularly attractive to me. Within the scope of public discourse, we never seem to have a focus on how a deeper understanding of how language works can help in reading and writing. We seem to have no attention at all to newer ways of looking at language and their implications. Grammar is still regressive. We are losing the PR battle.
Craig
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Dews-Alexander [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 1:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: QES RIP
Thanks for the article, Herb! I've been away from email for an extended period. This was a nice piece to read upon returning! I love the paraphrase, John! How accurate!
John
On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 8:13 AM, John Crow <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Thanks, Herb--always happy to see prescriptive grammarians take a lick. Somebody once wrote (and I paraphrase) that English teachers were the morticians of the language and that, once a certain feature or "rule" died out, they were the only ones at the funeral.
John
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 4:53 PM, Stahlke, Herbert <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
The Subject line is not original. It comes from an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal
http://www.livemint.com/2012/07/30210221/English-and-the-language-polic.html
about the recent demise of the Queen's English Society.
Herb
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