I tend to generally side with the descriptivist camp when it comes to English grammar and usage, albeit sometimes uncomfortably. Englishmen and Americans have been known to wantonly split infinitives for over two hundred years now — and other speakers of our cousin languages have been disposed to valiantly take umbrage over it for nearly as long. Fowler in 1926, in the first edition of Modern English Usage, wrote: "No other grammatical issue has so divided English speakers since the split infinitive was declared to be a solecism in the 19c: raise the subject of English usage in any conversation today and it is sure to be mentioned."
(You might be interested in The Wikipedia article, from which I got the Fowler quote.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-02-18 01:07 am (UTC)(You might be interested in The Wikipedia article, from which I got the Fowler quote.)