| > Part of my attitude just comes from other examples where there are fads to nitpick language, and these fads are often wildly popular and yet completely and totally incorrect, historically. Oh yes, I agree here. I remember a science class where we wrote review papers and passed them around for critique. Everyone jumped on mine for using 'However' (I think, something like it); I knew I used it correctly, but they were focused on the only thing they kind-of knew. I wouldn't be writing all that about semicolons and grammar rules except for the geek exploration of it. You won't find me correcting people's grammar - I might ask a question if it's unclear to me, but that's it. This thread is about grammar, so it's different. One thing I've found is that grammar 'rules' are often essentially universal theories of clarity - follow them and you're writing will have clarity. For a simple example, omit the subject, verb, or object, and people will misinterpret those missing pieces. > The problems with style guides are they don’t represent most writing, and they often represent publishing fads, and they change. Things that were in the style guide when I was a kid aren’t the same anymore. They try to be prescriptive That isn't my experience: They seem relatively conservative about change, descriptive, and flexible. If you want them to be descriptive, they should have changed since you were a kid. |