What is the language coming to when one of our leading writers can use cheap as an adverb, broke and wrote as past participles and her’s as a possessive pronoun? The writer? Oh yes, Jane Austen.
Posted by: Barrie | 01/01/2010
Change and Decay in All Around I See
Posted in Correctness | Tags: change, Standard English
I once looked through the first chapter of Emma. There was not a single page that would have escaped my teacher’s red pen on several occasions. I particularly remember that she was ‘the youngest (sic) of two daughters’.
However, that does not mean that the style of 200 years ago is acceptable now, or that our present style will be acceptable in 2210.
By: Peter Harvey on 01/01/2010
at 6:36 pm
Quite so. My post was meant as a challenge to those who tell us the language is going to the dogs.
By: Barrie on 01/01/2010
at 7:27 pm
Well, then I can just say and do anything that suits me and nobody can tell me I done it wrongly.
By: hwnski on 08/01/2010
at 3:00 pm
I don’t think you can draw that conclusion from anything Peter or I have said.
By: Barrie on 08/01/2010
at 4:10 pm
Ha….I am still trying to figure out just what it is that you ARE saying!!
By: hwnski on 08/01/2010
at 9:44 pm
I think Barrie is saying, to all those people who complain that language is ‘dumbing down’, that authors have been using less than standard English in their works of fiction for centuries, yet the English language soldiers on despite this!
By: Diana on 16/01/2010
at 1:21 pm
It takes skill and discernment to break the rules to good effect.
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is a good recent example. It contains some very non-standard syntax and omits much punctuation (e.g. apostrophes are largely absent, except where their omission might cause confusion), yet the sparse poetic style somehow enhances the impact of the story, rather than distracting from it.
By: Cecily on 18/01/2010
at 9:53 am
Have you read anything by Shakespeare? Other than introducing commas to punctuate his works, reputedly, he really did a job on the English language but nobody seems to notice or complain about it.
By: David on 03/01/2012
at 8:43 am
I’m not sure we can say that Shakespeare personally introduced commas, not least because none of his manuscripts survive, and because the first mention of a comma is in 1530, 34 years before his birth.
Exaggerated claims are sometimes made about Shakespeare, but David Crystal sums up his contribution in this extract from his book ‘Think On My Words: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language’:
By: Barrie on 03/01/2012
at 9:12 am