Grammatical Change Flashcards
When were the prescriptivist rules compiled? Why?
Prescriptive rules were compiled in the 18th century because the educated elite wanted to “correct” language use.
What did the P rules eventually created?
These invented rules, over time, promoted social attitudes about “correct” or “incorrect” English.
Some rules have so influenced pastgenerations that they are accepted as the norm.
When were rules drawn up and by who?
Rules”, drawn up by Bishop Robert Lowth in 1762, have acquired status.
What do the 1762 rules say?
Put a preposition at the end of a sentence:
Use double or multiple negatives
Split the infinitive
Use double comparatives/superlatives
Or use they as a gender-neutral pronoun.
Prepositions should not come at the end of a sentence
What did you do that for? Correct form Why did you do that? Who were you looking for? – For whom were you looking? Shut up – Be quiet/please be silent
The rule that the preposition should come before the verb has no rational reason. The emboldened example above may be more elegant, but rigid use of the “rule” can have the opposite effect, e.g. Winston Churchill’s: This is English, up with which I will not put.
Some prepositions: about; above; across; after; at; before; behind; below; beneath; beside; down; during; for; from; in; inside; into; like; past; round; save; through; to; toward; towards; under; underneath; with; within; without
Double negatives are really affirmatives
Example: I don’t know nothing about that.
This comes from Robert Lowth and is now deeply entrenched in prescriptive attitudes to language.
It came from the field of maths where a double negative signals a positive.
What does Aitchison say about double negatives?
Aitchison finds a multiple (fourfold) negative for emphatic negation in Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Of the knight, we are told ‘he never yet no vileynye ne sayde In al his lyf unto no maner wight’1
The infinitive should not be split from to by a modifier
An infinitive is a basic form of a verb without inflections.
A modifier is aword, especially an adjective or noun used attributively, that restricts or adds to the sense of a head noun.
The Language students wanted to learn enthusiastically; NOT: The Language students wanted to enthusiastically learn.
There is no good reason for this rule. “Star Trek” in 1966 used the tag line: The mission was to boldly go where no man had ever gone before causing a lot of upset for prescriptivists.
Double comparatives are not grammatically correct
Double comparatives areadjectives with more than one comparative marker. For example, the comparative word more and the comparative suffix -er are both applied to the adjective loud in the phrase more louder in the sentence below. Like comparatives, superlatives (most, -est) may also be doubled.
Examples:
I can be more louder than you
You are the most bestest person ever
James is more taller than me
Obsolete Inflections
The main reason for inflections being standardised was that there were too many e.g.
1st Person: (I or we) think STAYED SAME
2nd person: (thou) thinkest CHANGED TO (you) think
3RD person: (s/he) thinketh CHANGED TO (s/he) thinks
Obsolete Inflections 1
1st Person: (I or we) think STAYED SAME
Obsolete Inflections 2
2nd person: (thou) thinkest CHANGED TO (you) think
Obsolete Inflections 3
3rd person: (s/he) thinketh CHANGED TO (s/he) thinks
What is an inflection?
An inflection isa change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender.
Obsolete Pronouns
Thou = you
Thee = you
Thine = yours
Thy = you
Ye = you
You = you
Standardised from 6 to 1 with inflection possessive ‘rs’ added to ‘yours’.