RULES

RULES OF GRAMMAR ARE THE LAST THING TO CHANGE.  

LANGUAGE HAS BEEN SPOKEN FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS, WRITTEN FOR A COMPARATIVELY VERY BRIEF TIME.  AFTER EARLY USE IN RECORDKEEPING, WRITING BECAME A VEHICLE FOR PERMANENTLY STORING THE SPOKEN WORD SO THAT THOUGHTS AND UTTERANCES COULD BE ACCURATELY RECALLED AND SHARED OVER TIME.  THIS PROVED OF INESTIMABLE VALUE TO THE PROGRESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY.  BUT THE WELLSPRING OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE WAS, IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.  THAT IS WHY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IS THE VEHICLE OF CHANGE IN ALL LANGUAGES, WHY SPOKEN LANGUAGE IS THE MOST DYNAMIC AND FLUID FORM AND WHY IT TAKES TIME FOR PEOPLE TO REFLECT IN THEIR WRITTEN WORDS CHANGES ALREADY WELL UNDERSTOOD BY SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS.  

BRINGING UP THE REAR ARE THE RULES AND RULEMAKERS.  THERE IS AN INEVITABLE LAG WHILE ESTABLISHED PROTOCOLS AND THEIR DEFENDERS GRADUALLY YIELD TO THE NEW AND INNOVATIVE ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE, BUT EVENTUALLY THE RULES AND RULEMAKERS WILL CONFORM, BECAUSE THE CHANGES ARE EVOLUTIONARILY USEFUL ADAPTATIONS NOT UNLIKE THE ADAPTATIONS OCCURRING IN BIOLOGY.  FOR INSTANCE, IN THIS PARAGRAPH 'RULEMAKERS' IS NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE GRAMMAR AND SPELLING PROGRAM RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND AS I WORK, THOUGH IT WILL CERTAINLY BE UNDERSTOOD BY ALL READERS AND CONFORMS RATHER USEFULLY TO THE WAY THE THOUGHT IT EXPRESSES IS UNDERSTOOD IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

RULES OF GRAMMAR IN ENGLISH ARE HOPELESSLY CONTRADICTORY — SELF-CONTRADICTORY.  THERE IS NO INTERNAL CONSISTENCY IN THEM AS THEY ARE BACKFORMATIONS FROM AN ESSENTIALLY AD HOC PROCESS THAT PROCEEDS CONTINUALLY AMONG ALL SPEAKERS WITHOUT CONSCIOUS ORDER OR OVERALL GUIDING PLAN.  FOR INSTANCE, ONE COULD BACK VARIOUS FORMATIONS SUCH AS POLITICAL PARTIES OR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT BUT TO BACK FORMATIONS MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MEANING IMPLIED BY THE WORD BACKFORMATIONS, ANOTHER WORD MY GRAMMAR PROGRAM DOES NOT BLESS WITH ITS CONDESCENDING ACCEPTANCE.  AND YET IN SPEECH IT IS CLEAR AND UNIQUE IN ITS MEANING.

NEXT TIME SOMEONE SAYS YOU ARE BREAKING A RULE OF GRAMMAR, QUESTION WHETHER WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN IS CONSISTENT WITH SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND CLEAR IN MEANING, ALSO THAT IT CAN BE USED CONSISTENTLY. IF THE ANSWER IS 'YES' STICK TO YOUR GUNS — YOU HAVE THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE COSMOS ON YOUR SIDE.