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grammar

'What have you been up to?' 
'How are you? Good.' 
'With who am I speaking?' 
'Who am I speaking to?'
'Where are you at?' 
'Who did you give it to?'

I don't care what people say in an informal setting, but the idea that grammar is unimportant is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put! While I understand the idea behind slang, and while I approve of making language more efficient, I would like to point out that saying 'good' isn't any easier or quicker than 'well', and 'Where are you?' is considerably more compact than 'Where are you at?'. 

If we let our grammar slide enough, there will come a time when the English language will be so full of inaccuracies and misleading grammar errors that it will no longer be an effective means of communication. 

That said, it is senseless to be worried about grammar errors as long as they do no impede in people's understanding of what's being said. So how do we find a balance between simplifying English and allowing it to change and compromising its accuracy? 

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

"what have you been up to?" I don't have a problem with.
Not "good", either.

But I always say "With whom am I speaking?" and "To whom did you give it?"

Also...when answering the phone -
"Hi!"
"Hi, can I speak to Layli?"
"This is she."

NO ONE does that! Except my mom.

Also, it's correct (technically) to say "an historian", which never made sense to me, but whatever.

Less vs. fewer DOES drive me insane.

But I dunno...I don't worry too much about it because there comes a point where worrying about grammar is more elitism than anything. Sometimes speaking with correct grammar is more confusing to most people than incorrect...

:)