A Diachronic Study of the Positive Influences of Prescriptive Grammar

초록

Prescriptive grammar has been influencing English, especially Present-Day English (PE), for the worse and for the better. For the worse, in some instances, it has gone against accepted usage. However, prescriptive grammar influenced English, especially PE, for the better, in that it has helped establish standard and formal language to express authority, sincerity, and certainty, for a language requires many varieties of registers and dialects. As an example, there is the language of sermons, where serious issues are addressed, such as death, eternal life, authority, and majesty. The registers of government policy announcements and court verdicts also require “prescriptive” expressions. This is not a matter of ideology or social hierarchy, as some misguided linguists charge. Prescriptive grammar just provides standardization, contributing significantly to marking distinctions between dialects and registers.

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