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A Compromise: How To Be A Reasonable Prescriptivist. Dear Language Peever:

A Compromise: How To Be A Reasonable Prescriptivist

Grammar rules everyone should follow. The Idler Academy's inaugural Bad Grammar award was bestowed last week on 100 academics who wrote an open letter to Michael Gove in March criticising the education secretary's revised national curriculum.

Grammar rules everyone should follow

The letter reads at times as if it was written by committee, but does it really display "the worst use of English over the last 12 months by people who should know better"? Hardly. Like many such gongs, up to and including the Nobel prize for literature, the Bad Grammar award looks suspiciously like the continuation of politics by other means. One of the three judges was Toby Young, whose latest book is How to Set Up a Free School; Gove apparently told fellow guests at a Spectator party last year that he'd like Young to stand as a Tory MP. "The 100 educators have inadvertently made an argument for precisely the sort of formal education the letter is opposing," Young said. Is good grammar still important? Charlie Higson, comedian and author Language is a uniquely human attribute, one of the things that makes us what we are.

Is good grammar still important?

We are all born with the faculty to use it and all languages conform to the same basic patterns and structures. The idea that we might need a huge rulebook telling us how to use it properly is ludicrous. People all round the world, and for thousands upon thousands of years, have been using language to communicate perfectly well without needing to be told how to do it by a bunch of grammar Nazis who think that the way they talk and write is the correct, unchanging way. Text-speak: language evolution or just laziness? Why Can’t Johnny Write? Don’t Blame Social Media. Books were my best friends, when I was growing up.

Why Can’t Johnny Write? Don’t Blame Social Media

I read all the time, but wrote little. It wasn’t until I hit my teens that I began to write regularly for fun. Saying no to 'gizit' is plain prejudice - Comment - Voices. Naturally, I support the school's aim of teaching pupils to use written standard English so that they can progress in future education and employment.

Saying no to 'gizit' is plain prejudice - Comment - Voices

However, focusing on speech will not improve their writing. There are three reasons why the methods advocated in this letter are unhelpful and damaging. First, the letter seems to assume that to teach standard English it is necessary to erase features of the local dialect. As a native of Teesside, I recognise several of the so-called "problem" words and phrases. Middlesbrough parents to clamp down on local expressions at home so children can learn 'standard English'

Headmistress at Sacred Heart school in Middlesbrough said pupils will suffer in the world of work if they do not learn to adapt their language By Olivia Williams Published: 18:00 GMT, 5 February 2013 | Updated: 19:44 GMT, 5 February 2013.

Middlesbrough parents to clamp down on local expressions at home so children can learn 'standard English'

Debate over Teesside dialect and accent continues. Essex school gives pupils elocution lessons to lose their accents. "I really wanted to get someone in because I noticed the children weren't saying words correctly and were therefore misspelling them.

Essex school gives pupils elocution lessons to lose their accents

"We had lots of youngsters writing 'sbort' instead of 'sport' and 'wellw' instead of 'well'. "They now have half-hourly sessions where they get taken through exercises and learn to use the 'posh voices' in their heads. They really enjoy the sessions. School bans youth slang and sees exam results soar. Pupils are not allowed to use the phrase "innit" or other examples of "playground patois" when talking to teachers.

School bans youth slang and sees exam results soar

Formal language must be used at all times in communications with adults and pupils have been told that street slang should be "left at the school gates". The measure, along with a strict uniform policy, is part of a tough stance on discipline at Manchester Academy, in the city's deprived Moss Side area, has restored order. Since the school became an academy in 2003, exam results have improved from about 10 per cent of pupils achieving five good GCSEs to 33 per cent and the proportion who leave without a job or college course to go to is down from 26 to 6 per cent.

Middlesbrough school urges parents to correct pupils' Tees dialect. PARENTS have been asked to ensure their children use the Queen’s English, rather than a more “Teesside” version.

Middlesbrough school urges parents to correct pupils' Tees dialect

PARENTS have been asked to ensure their children use the Queen's English, rather than a more "Teesside" version. A letter sent home to parents whose children attend Sacred Heart Primary School in Middlesbrough gives advice about pronunciation and grammar. It details several phrases which are often used in class but need correcting - and many will be familiar to Teessiders! Some aim for grammatical accuracy - the correct use of “your” and “you’re” for example. Ralph Fiennes blames Twitter for 'eroding' language. "I hear it, too, from people at drama schools, who say the younger intake find the density of a Shakespeare text a challenge in a way that, perhaps, (students) a few generations ago maybe wouldn't have.

Ralph Fiennes blames Twitter for 'eroding' language

" He said: "I think we're living in a time when our ears are attuned to a flattened and truncated sense of our English language, so this always begs the question, is Shakespeare relevant? But I love this language we have and what it can do, and aside from that I think the themes in his plays are always relevant. " Fiennes, who does not use Twitter, is not alone in his theory. JP Davidson, the author of Planet Word and a linguistic expert, talked this week about longer words dying out in favour of shortened text message-style terms. Irish Government Blames Text Messaging for Teen Illiteracy. 8298. Texting 'improves language skill' Text speak, rather than harming literacy, could have a positive effect on the way children interact with language, says a study. Researchers from Coventry University studied 88 children aged between 10 and 12 to understand the impact of text messaging on their language skills. They found that the use of so-called "textisms" could be having a positive impact on reading development.

The study is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. "Children's use of textisms is not only positively associated with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development ," the authors wrote in the report. The children involved in the study were given 10 different scenarios and asked to write about them using text messages. Text Messaging May Improve Literacy Skills. Author: Lesley Lanir : Posted to Decoded Science on December 12, 2011 at 9:18 am US Teens send over 6 text messages per waking hour - Photo by Darkstream Considering the popularity of text messaging, what role do textisms and textese play in the overall literacy or illiteracy of young people today?

Interested in texting, and its affects on literary skills, Clare Wood, Sally Meachem, and their research team investigated text messaging and spelling ability in children aged 8-12 years in 2011. The team concluded from the results of their study that the use of ‘textisms,’ or text-message spellings, does affect spelling performance, but when strong phonological skills are present, spelling skills remain intact. Text Messaging and Spelling Research Over the last ten years, several researchers have studied the effect of text messaging extensively, coming to a variety of conclusions, some of which appear to support this most recent research. Back in 2003, Dr. Texting aids literacy: study confounds popular prejudice - News. Last Updated:22 January, 2010Section:News Traditionalists cringe, but abbreviations reveal sophisticated grasp of language Sendin mizspelld msgs improvez pupilz skulwork and conventional litRC skilz, accordin 2 nu research. Academics from Coventry University have found that, contrary to popular expectation, pupils who send large numbers of text messages are more likely to do well in school literacy tests than their text-averse classmates.

Tabloid scare stories regularly highlight the horror of teachers who find GCSE essays littered with text-message abbreviations, such as "l8r", "plz" or "hav". But the Coventry researchers argue that such linguistic playfulness requires a detailed knowledge of how the English language works. I h8 txt msgs: How texting is wrecking our language. By JOHN HUMPHRYS Last updated at 07:29 24 September 2007 A good dictionary is a fine thing - I yield to no man in my love for one. If I stretch out my right arm as I type, I can pluck from my shelves the two volumes of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. They are as close to my heart as they are to my desk because they are so much more than a useful tool. Leafing through a good dictionary in search of a single word is a small voyage of discovery - infinitely more satisfying than looking something up on the internet.

It's partly the physical sensation - the feel and smell of good paper - and partly the minor triumph of finding the word you seek, but it's rare to open a dictionary without being diverted somewhere else. Expert says txt is gr8 4 language. A linguistics expert has rejected claims that texting by mobile phone is bad for language and literacy skills. Professor David Crystal argues that such condensed messages enhance and enrich language skills. Watch what you're saying!: Linguist David Crystal on Twitter, texting and our native tongue - Features - Books. But the professor would, I suspect, quickly shrug off such a custodial title – not out of modesty, but principle. Though many endangered languages need their champions, he would say, English does not require a guardian; it is vibrant and evolving and can fend for itself. The cacophony of conversation in the Charlotte Street Hotel bar where we meet seems to prove the point.

2b or not 2b: David Crystal on why texting is good for language. Thirty words journalists should stop using … and a simple test to make people reconnect with our work. The Riddler – really responsible for all the crimes police are struggling to solve? The language police are a force for good. Middlesbrough parents to clamp down on local expressions at home so children can learn 'standard English' 'Ere, giz us a job? Primary school head bans children from using improper enunciation - Education News - Education. 'Jafaican' may be cool, but it sounds ridiculous.

God save the Queen's English: Our language is under threat from ignorance, inverted snobbery and deliberate 'dumbing down' - Schools - Education. Departures from the Queen's English do get noticed. The head of an online graduate recruitment agency wrote that they reject one third of all job applications from graduates with good degrees from good universities, because errors in English in their CVs and covering letters show ignorance, carelessness and a bad attitude. Grammar and spelling pedants: this is why you're wrong.

B is for bad grammar. Photograph: Getty Images. Linguistic cleanliness – will we ever accept variation and change? How do you react when you hear people saying innit or like or how about when you see signs such as potato’s or tomatoe’s (see our previous post on the ‘greengrocer’s apostrophe’) in shop displays? For many people, these uses of language provoke emotional and, often, angry responses because they are viewed as ‘bad’ language and a threat to the stability of standard English. Zut alors! The French have banned the world hashtag - along with email, blog and all those other English intrusions into their beloved language. Linguistic cleanliness – will we ever accept variation and change? Which Language and Grammar Rules to Flout - Room for Debate. Political Correctness « i love english language.