From the course: Writing with Impact
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Untangling (and subverting) grammar
From the course: Writing with Impact
Untangling (and subverting) grammar
- There's a war going on. On one side are those who believe that correct grammar is prescribed by educated authorities. These are the Prescriptivists. On the other side are those who believe that the linguist's job is to describe a language's real world, day to day use. These are the Descriptivists. Prescriptivism is easier to teach. There's a set of rules, you apply them, and you're good. That's why it's what we all learned in school. It gives everyone a reference for rightness, but Prescriptivist grammar is bland. People from all backgrounds understand it, but it tends to seem formal or stuffy. You can increase the impact of your writing by using grammar as your audience uses it, which can be quite different from the rules of a Prescriptivist. We see this less formal usage a lot in ads. Here are some ways they've made an impact by monkeying with grammar. First, by changing parts of speech. A string of successful slogans used adjectives where we expected adverbs. Apple has "Think…
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