DI : We know whose side of the language snot war you ’re on , but still , there must be a couple offence that really get your grammar goat . pose ‘em on us .
JC : I detest confessing this stuff . But you got me : I cringe when I take heed " between you and I,“ mostly because the great unwashed instinctively recognize well but are cover for their grammar insecurity . We all know to say " between us" instead of " between we,“ but with these " and I" constructions , suddenly we start see a momma voice in our heads and we panic . Then , despite our instinctive intellect that an object form like " me" is called for after a preposition , we boob up and say " between you and I.“
I also get a gustatory sensation of bile from " there’s" used before a plural . Technically , you may get off with this . The " Oxford English Grammar,“ for deterrent example , sanctions it . But I was taught to employ " there are" before a plural , so it ’s hard to stomach " There ’s some people I want you to meet . “
DI : How much has the success of Lynne Truss’Eats , Shoots & Leaveschanged the language landscape ? Or has it always been nerveless to kibitz about grammar ?
JC : Lynne Truss did a good thing : She gave voice to all the people who were frustrate with a macrocosm full of misplaced apostrophes . It ’s a valid frustration . The job is that , given the slightest bit of encouragement , these types can go too far . Way too far . So criticizing something like " carrot’s" on a sign becomes a tricky slope into a vale of bullying and misinformation : a place where citizenry endure around create others feel dumb for terminate conviction with prepositions , for using the word " nauseous" to mean " queasy" and for embark on sentences with the word " hopefully" – all of which are completely grammatical and acceptable . A pathetic brand of world power - drunkenness if ever there was one .
DI : With technology making such an encroachment on words and spoken language , can you imagine a day in the not - so - distant future when there are practically no rule governing its use ?
JC : I can indeed imagine a earth in which there are practically no prescript governing the use of language . Ever read Cormac McCarthy ’s " The Road" or Stephen King ’s " The Stand" ? Show me a parched globe on which mass are eat each other and I ’ll show you a world in which grammar linguistic rule have run short the way of the salad forking . But as long as we continue to be a order , we ’ll proceed to conform to some standards of communicating . In fact , Noam Chomsky has hypothesized that this hooey is congenital – hard - wire . I ’m not dependent to weigh in on his hypothesis . All I know is that grammar arose if not out of nature out of necessity . And every BFF knows you ’ll get a funny look if you call someone your FFB .
hoi polloi worried that language standards are going to Hades in a handbasket motive to chillax .
DI : English is spoken the world over now . How much has the global - village influence grammar ?
JC : I do n’t eff . I ’m too busy worrying which I should learn first : Mandarin or Cantonese . ( Brace yourself , world . )
DI : Have you ever strike a Word of God ? If so , what ?
JC : I have indeed try out to strike Good Book . Here ’s how successful I was : Not even I remember what they were .
DI : If you could change any existing grammar rule , what would it be ?
JC : I would compose a clear , unimpeachable and enforceable - by - Union - law definition of the prefix " -bi" as applied to words like " weekly . “ It would mean " every two . “ " -Semi,“ on the other hired hand , would signify " every half . “ presently , that ’s not the case . " Biweekly" can mean either every two weeks or twice a week . Yes , really . Quoth " Word Court" editorialist and " Atlantic Monthly" editor Barbara Wallraff : " -Bi is useless for making clear a pace of occurrence . “ Not if I had my mode , it would n’t be .
DI : How can our readers be in touch with you if they have grammar - related questions ? Do you keep up an online presence ?
JC : I welcome grammar questions of all sort , including ones that start with , " Some changeling in my place is look me $ 20 that " ¦ " direct ‘em to junetcn@aol.com ( which I check infrequently but eventually ) . I also have awebsiteand a blog at conjugatevisits.blogspot.com and a weekly grammar column at burbankleader.com ( insert search term " Casagrande" ) .
