Grammar, Usage, Standards: Passe?

[Herb Stahlke]

The list could go on endlessly, but one book I've used successfully is
Bolinger's _Language:  The Loaded Weapon_.

Herb

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Grammar, Usage, Standards: Passe?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 6/9/10 12:01 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>> Are there any other forums where my questions would be better asked?=A0 Any=
>>   PRINT publications, for the layman?
>> =A0
>> Are there any=A0books that deal with this, and recent changes in the langua=
>> ge?=A0 In, say, the last 5, 10 or 15 years?
>
> For print sources for the layman:
>
> _
>
> _The Student's Introduction to English Grammar_ by Huddleston and Pullum
> for a real descriptive grammar that discusses prescriptivist stuff as well.
>
> _Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage_ which discusses
> prescriptivist rules, examines what people actually do, looks at how
> things have changed, and then gives you some wise advice.
>
> Woe Is I_ by Patricia O'Conner or _The Origins of the Specious_ by
> Patricia O'Conner and Stewart Kellerman. The first is middle-ground
> handbook -- still doling out "it is done this way" guidelines, but
> throwing out the more ridiculous prescriptivist dicta. The latter is
> more on false etymologies, but one chapter is a redux of the ridiculous
> prescriptivist dicta.
>
> First chapters of _Word on the Street_ by John McWhorter, specifically
> "Leave Your Language Alone: The 'Speech Error' Hoax."
>
> _The Fight for English_ by David Crystal, written specifically in
> response to the zero-tolerance attitude of such works as Eats, Shoots
> and Leaves. It's a history of language punditry.
>
> Similarly, the recent _The Lexicographer's Dilemma_ by Jack Lynch.
>
> More academic: _Grammar and Good Taste_ by Dennis Baron for the politics
> and ideology of prescriptivism, reform, and punditry
>
> _Language Myths_ edited by Bauer and Trudgill -- mostly British English
> focused but still relevant to American English issues.
>
> Read The Word column in the Boston Globe by Jan Freeman and Erin McKean;
> On Language by Ben Zimmer; listen to A Way with Words with Grant Barrett
> (I listen to the podcast).
>
> --
> ---Amy West
>
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>

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