the delphic expanse

Came across this article today

7 bogus grammar 'errors' you don't need to worry about

thought I'd share for anyone else interested.

On point 7 the only one of the example's he provides that bugs me is "I could care less"

I saw that article. It was interesting that a lot of the rationale behind why things were done a certain way was because that's how it was done in Latin.

While I agree that many of these "rules" are breakable, I don't agree with the reasoning of "you can disregard this rule because it was totally made up by so-and-so." EVERY rule in our language was pretty much made up by Some Guy A Long Time Ago. That you have traced it back to an actual person to point the finger at doesn't make it any more breakable than any other rule. What this person is doing is basically taking a more descriptive approach to our language -- what people *actually* do -- vs. the prescriptive one we get drilled into us at school.

Also, lots of times we become literalists when it comes to the rules we were taught in middle school and high school, as with the not ending a sentence with a preposition or never using passive voice. What I tell students in the writing center is that a little passive voice here and there is okay, depending on what you're writing, but if the whole paper is passive voice, it becomes tedious and overly wordy. The preposition thing is about 50/50 for me. "He was someone everybody's heard of" works, but "where's the party at?" is repetitive and you can just say "where's the party?"

Point being, I would take this with a grain of salt (same with the rules) and adjust accordingly for your audience and your desired tone.