“Prescriptive grammar has spread linguistic insecurity like a plague among English speakers for centuries, numbs us to the aesthetic richness of non-standard speech, and distracts us from attending to genuine issues of linguistic style in writing.”

Source: Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of "Pure" Standard English

Last update Nov. 14, 2022. History

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John McWhorter1

American linguist and political commentator 1965

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“Prescriptive grammar has spread linguistic insecurity like a plague among English speakers for centuries, numbs us to the aesthetic richness of non-standard speech, and distracts us from attending to genuine issues of linguistic style in writing.”

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John McWhorter1

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