FWD: Re: Explaining your edits (was: Whaddaya know?)

["Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Scott:

No argument from me. I may be old, but I'm still breathing. As I said in another post in this thread, _grammar_ is part of the living language as spoken. Native speakers get it right. 

However, we also have a constantly changing set of editorial conventions that help readers decode squiggly marks back into language. To the extent that we don't surprise the reader with novel constructions _unintentionally_ (I'm all for surprising the reader intentionally), we aid comprehension. That is an important function and it has nothing to do with holding the language frozen in amber.

Dick

 Scott Turner wrote:


>Back to the old military adage, "No battle plan survives contact with 
>the enemy." English is a live language. Unlike the French we do not 
>maintain an official language. English changes. So will the rules. 
>They already have. They will again.
>


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