** Reply to note from Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>         Mon, 4 Oct 1999 18:20:56 -0500

I just read Bob and Jim's recently posted essay. As usual, one can expect
bucket loads of truth from ATEG'rs. In defense of alas, poor Pinker (whom
I don't know at all), I toss in the following from his chapter on the
mavens of language:

"Many prescriptive rules of grammar are just plain dumb and should be
deleted from the usage handbooks. And most of standard English is just
that, standard, in the same sense that certain units of currency or
household voltages are said to be standard. It is just common sense that
people should be given every encouragement and opportunity to learn the
dialect that has become the standard on in their society and to employ it
in many formal settings." (p. 400)



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Dave Sawyer
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