By Deborah Skousen
Students stress over grades and primp communication skills all in hopes of preparing for the future, but staying up-to-date on grammar rules as they evolve can be a difficult task.
Christopher Rogers, a junior from Springville majoring in Middle Eastern studies, Arabic and editing, said he realizes grammar proficiency is important, but it continues to be a challenge for him.
'I may not agree with die-hard grammarians, but I do believe that knowing how to speak and write according to grammatical rules is important for success,' he said.
But articulate speech isn''t just a concern for students. There is a demand for grammar publications worldwide. The punctuation guide 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves,' by Lynne Truss was a No. 1 New York Times best seller and sold more than 3 million copies.
Yet a grammar book today may look somewhat different from the copy sitting on your grandmother''s shelf. English is an evolving language, and many experts agree it is high time to toss a few old rules out the window.
'I think ''whom'' is on the way out, and I say good riddance,' said Bill Walsh, a copy chief for the Washington Post, via e-mail. 'Except in something like ''for whom the bell tolls,'' ''who'' works just fine.'
Walsh said he is also rooting for the singularization of the sexless plural pronoun. Currently the phrase 'everyone should do their homework' isn''t grammatically correct. In this particular instance, 'his' would be the traditional answer, but a greater awareness of sexism has rendered that not such a good option.
'''His or her'' is clunky. ''Her'' is patronizing. ''Their'' is the only sensible solution, but I''m duty-bound not to use it - yet,' he said.
Kristine Hansen, a professor in the BYU English Department, said via e-mail that she thinks people can disregard silly rules about not splitting an infinitive or ending a sentence with a preposition.
People have often thought it is incorrect to put an adverb between 'to' and the verb that follows, she said. For example, instead of writing 'to boldly go where no man has gone before,' some people would insist on 'to go boldly where no man has gone before' or 'boldly to go where no man has gone before.'
She said people also still think it is wrong to end a sentence with a preposition.
'It''s OK to ask, ''who are you going with?'' It''s okay to say, ''where does he come from?'' It''s okay to say, ''I''m going to throw the garbage out.'' In fact, many words that people think are prepositions are actually part of a phrasal verb,' she said.
Knowing which rules to follow and which to disregard is no easy task. Although their brains are hard-wired to acquire language skills at a young age, people are not innately familiar with grammar rules.
Grammar rules were not even a part of the English language until the beginning of the 16th century, said Bill Eggington, a professor in the BYU Linguistics Department, via e-mail. The well-educated set about informing the masses what they thought were the correct 'rules' of language.
The educated studied Latin grammar and thus thought it was quite appropriate to transfer the rules of Latin grammar onto English. Where Latin didn''t fit, they attempted to make it fit by creating prescriptive rules, Eggington said.
English today looks significantly different from English 100 years ago, and it will look even more different 100 years from now. As language changes, grammar rules also adapt. There are several rules that recent generations knew that have already become outdated.
Eggington said there used to be a rule that prescribed a difference between 'shall' and 'will,' but today they can be used interchangeably.
'The laws of grammar come and go,' said Patricia T. O''Conner in her grammar book, 'Woe Is I.' 'We make up rules when we need them and disregard them when we don''t.'
Grammar can be difficult because there is an exception to every rule. Walsh said most grammar rules can be and should be broken.
'It''s important to look at writing as a living thing and not a lump of clay that needs to be stuffed into a mold,' Walsh said. 'Almost every rule is breakable under the right circumstances.'
An example of this would be sentence fragments, which he said are great in the hands of somebody who knows how to use them.
To stay up-to-date on which rules can be broken and which should be strictly followed, Hansen said to follow the rules that the editors of the leading newspapers and magazines follow. This way writing will always sound well edited.
'Grammatical quibbles may seem silly, and some of them are! But what isn''t silly is that communication is important,' O''Conner said via e-mail. 'Ability to read and to communicate one''s thoughts unambiguously in clear English is the best gift we can pass on to any child.'
Should these rules be allowed to die?
1. Always put the subject of a sentence before a verb
2. It''s wrong to start a sentence with and or but
3. None is always singular
4. Use It is I, not It is me.
5. Never use a double negative
6. Don''t start a sentence with there.
-Taken from Patricia T. O''Conner''s grammar book, 'Woe Is I.'