Pinker

In “Grammar Puss” Steven Pinker puts the grammar mavens in their place. While these staunch advocates of “correct grammar” are usually the ones correcting others, Pinker critically analyzed a number of claims made by various mavens in order to make the point that these elite criticizers are out of touch how language has adapted and what truly makes sense when it comes to the English language. Pinker expounds on the unruliness of the language, stating, “As for outlawing sentences that end with a preposition (impossible in Latin for reasons irrelevant to English) -- as Winston Churchill would have said, it is a rule up with which we should not put.” Rather than living in the past, Pinker feels that people must move past these petty quibbles and focus more on the actual act of writing and reading. He argues these are the areas that people should place their time and effort rather than the nonsensical grammatical rules that govern the English language, writing, “The aspect of language use that is most worth changing is the clarity and style of written prose.” I agree with Pinker’s stance, that grammar should not be at the forefront of education, since even the most educated seem lost. Yet, Pinker is obviously still well informed in grammar, or he would not be able to make such a strong argument against it. Thus, while I don’t think that it is imperative to be educated in grammar, I definitely don’t think it could hurt.