In 2014 wWhen the word selfie was recorded in dictionaries in 2014, many comedians

Formatted: Line spacing: Double

joked that this marked the end of the English language. The commonly held belief that the
English language survives only through following strict conventions or creating rules that would

Commented [SW1]: I did this to avoid repetition of the

English language

limit incorrect usage is not only expressed by these modern comedians, but also by early
grammarians. In the seventeenth century, early grammarians believed that the influx of nonnative English speakers was destroying the English language. To combat this war of words,
grammarians established grammars (or rule books) to prevent any changes to the language.
These grammars have been passed down and, changed, and (to an extent) many are still used
today. Emerging from these rules come two distinct types of people:, prescriptivists, those who

Commented [SW2]: Edited for parallel structure.

want to define how language should be used, and descriptivists, those who want to document

Commented [SW3]: Suggestion: change this word

grammarian

how language is or was used.

I believe that there should be a balance between these two warring personas,
prescriptivist and descriptivist. I would not consider myself either one or the other, rather; I

Commented [SW4]: Is this your thesis? If so, embolden it.

believe that grammar rules should be used and followed, but if the writer understands the
conventions, they should be at liberty to creatively break or stretch the rules. I argue that there
should be a balance. between the strict aAny rules regarding the conventions or correctness in
usage and grammar are necessary to know and use when it is considered appropriate. In many
ways, I would err on the side of the linguistic liberal because grammar should be used like any
creative device and should not make a writer or a reader feel unnecessarily restricted. In my own

Commented [SW5]: This is my suggested edit, though

you should probably rewrite this anyway. What did should
the there be a balance between?

Commented [SW6]: Removed for simplicity.

editing, I hope to establish a sense of creative limitations. W where the authors can still express
themselves creatively through grammar.
Prescriptivists attempt to establish set rules and guidelines regarding usage, but,
historically, most rules came from grammarians personal preferences. According to John Updike,

Commented [SW7]: Where the author is not a

complete sentence, so I assumed that you meant for these
two sentences to be one.

the prescriptivist rules were used as instruments of class discrimination (Einsohn). Grammarians

point had adapted from the influences of other languages (i.e., French). However, grammarians

Commented [SW8]: Do you mean that grammarians

didnt want the common people (the masses) speaking
English, or that they didnt want English to be influenced by
other languages? Rewrite to clarify.

sought to keep the English language close to Latin, the Edenic language (Einsohn).

Commented [SW9]: Define.

wanted to keep the English language from mixing with the masses, although the language to that

Unfortunately, English doesid not always follow the rules established by Latin. When
grammarians came up against a problem where there was no Latin equivalent they would make
one upinvent a solution. With this history in mind, Updike states that as [we] gingerly tiptoe
around the landmines that dot the prescriptive-descriptive battlefield, [we] will encounter dozens
of rules that were never really rules, just the personal preferences or prejudices of someone
bold enough to proclaim them to be rules (Einsohn).
Descriptivists understand that language changes over time and these changes do not mean
that the language is dying or decaying. John McWhorter illustrates this idea through the
metaphor of a lava lamp. According to him, the substance of a lava lamp never changes, but its
shape and forms adjust over time. The same can be said for language, the substance is the same,
but the form adjusts with new influences.
I would argue that there should be a proper medium between the prescriptiveist and
descriptiveist philosophy. Although most of these rules and conventions to English usage come
from the personal preferences of seventeenth- century grammarians, we still use them today. In
my opinion iIt is important to adopt some of the prescriptiveist philosophy because having a set
of guidelines can help improve clarity. In my junior year of college, I took a job as a writing
tutor. As I have workedWorking at the tutor center, I began to fully appreciate some of the rules
and conventions in grammar. In many cases, students who brought papers to me with incorrect
punctuation or other seemingly unimportant grammatical errors also included errors in

Commented [SW10]: Where does this reference end?

organization or clarity. By completely ignoring the conventions of grammar, thesre students

could not effectively communicate with teachers and other students through their writing. While
the prescriptiveist philosophy is inconvenient and difficult to follow, following a code of rules
allows us to communicate on a similar level.

Commented [SW11]: Maybe not the word you were going

for.

You cant break the rules of grammar until you know how to use them. This phrase
has often been said by many English teachers as a means of justifying the conventions of usage. I
completely agree with this phrase; however, in practice some professors or readers do not seem

Commented [SW12]: Reorder to make this an active

sentence. Example: Many English teachers have used this
phrase

to follow suit. I once wrote a paper for an English class about a short story that was composed
entirely of run-on sentences. The purpose of using the run-on sentences was discussed in length
during class. There were many different opinions about why the writer had chosen to use a runon sentence instead of correctly breaking up the sentences. As a means of tipping my hat to the

Commented [SW13]: Suggestion: not to break these

sentences up.

writer and the professor, I composed an essay made up entirely of run-on sentences. When I
received a dismal grade on the assignment, I saw in red ink at the bottom, Run-on sentences.
This story illustrates the problem most readers and writers face. When should the creative

Commented [SW14]: Youve used the term run-on

sentences five times in five sentence. Can you rewrite these
at all so that the term isnt repeated so often? See previous
note for example.

license step over the grammatical rules? Don Norton wrote in a devotional speech to Brigham
Young University sStudents that there are rules, but no absolute rules. Norton specifically
speaks out against people who attempt to correct the grammar of others, but his words can be
used to address the issue of creative license as well. The idea that there isare a set of rules or
guidelines that can guide our usage and improve our clarity should not be overlooked. He
specifically mentions that there are no absolute rules, meaning that readers and critics should not
cry foul when grammar is replaced for creativity, . Ssimply because there are no absolute rules to
grammar. By looking through the history and teasing out the differences between the prescriptive

Commented [SW15]: Simplicity.

and descriptive traditions, we can see that grammar and usage should be followed, but not used
to limit the creative scope of the writer.
I consider myself a linguistic liberal, because I believe in adhering to the rules of
grammar so that readers can in order to attain a sense of clarity. As writers, we should know the
rules and conventions of grammar because that enables us to creatively bend the rules. Grammar
should be used as another tool for creativity and not as a referee that calls writers out for broken
rules.

Commented [SW16]: This seems more like a thesis

statement than what you currently have.

Works Cited
Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditors Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate
Communications. University of California Press. 2000. Print.
McWhorter, John The Heart of the Matter: Lava Lamps and Language. Print.
Norton, Don. The Truths of Grammatical Correctness or How the Language Really Works
2002. Print.