Changing grammatical rules

You need to be aware of several rules which have changed over time. The second person pronoun: In Middle English, the system was much more complex, as it distinguished between singular and plural. Eventually ye/you were marked as polite forms. By the 16th century, thou/thee and ye/you were linked to social status – thou/thee denoted intimacy and close affection, or were addressed to someone of a lower social status, while ye/you were used as a marker of respect or a formal social situation. Confusion or misuse of these terms would have been seen as an insult. By the 18th century, thou/thee was mostly obsolete in Standard English, although still prevalent in some dialects – e.g. older generation speakers in rural Yorkshire. ‘Thou’ would have been used deliberately in religious texts to create a sense of an esoteric discourse or in other texts to suggest archaisms, or hifalutin language in poetry. However, without thou there was no plural marker – for a time, ‘you was’ would mark singular usage, but this was still seen as colloquial and undesirable. In some dialects, especially in the USA but also in Liverpool, ‘yous’ denotes plurality. In the USA, ‘y’all’ is also sometimes used for plural markers.

You need to be aware of several rules which have changed over time. To do In Middle English, the verb ‘to do’ had inflected endings e.g. ‘he dost’, ‘I doth’. It would often have been used alongside a main verb, such as ‘he dost tell’. This was often in poetry where an additional syllable was needed. This fell into decline in the 18th century, seen only in religious or poetic texts. Its current usage was set in place by 18th century grammarians, and can be summarised with the acronym ‘NICE’ N – negatives: ‘She did not take it well.’ I – interrogatives: ‘Did she take it well?’ C – code usage (to avoid repeating a lexical verb): ‘She cried while watching the film, but her friend did not.’ E – emphasis: ‘She did find it very moving.’

Grammar rules change! They change to reflect social rules, new social practices and acceptability, or fashion. For example, it would not have been common to use the present participle with a stative verb i.e. a verb describing a state of being such as ‘seem’, ‘be’, ‘believe’, ‘love’. They don’t show ongoing action so don’t tend to be used in a progressive form. However, the McDonald’s slogan ‘I’m lovin’ it’ has popularised this form and it has entered much spoken discourse, almost becoming a fixed expression.

Modern attitudes to ‘bad’ grammar Starter: how do terms such as ‘grammar nazi’ or ‘grammar pedant’ represent those who hold these views?

Read the Albert Gifford article. What reasons does Albert Gifford state for having written his letter to the newspapers? He cites some key examples of grammatical ‘mistakes’. How would you classify these grammar errors? most tastiest bites as bad as it barks. The writer comments on the difference between spoken language and the written language by multinational companies. Do you think grammar mistakes or grammar lapses are acceptable in spoken language? Albert makes his own opinions about language change clear in the concluding paragraphs. Would you describe him as prescriptivist or descriptivist? Were you surprised that someone aged 15 should be so concerned about correct language usage?

In pairs, write a Section B Q3 response to this article and the ‘Bad Grammar award’ article. AO4 criteria Remember the weightings: /20 for AO3, /10 for AO1, /10 for AO4 AO1 criteria AO3 criteria

Homework Write an opinion article about language change in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in Text A and Text B and argue your own views. You may use either the adverbs articles or the articles on grammar pedantry as your starting points. Remember that AO2 is more heavily weighted than AO5 – yes, your crafting of your piece is important, but theorists and concepts even more so.