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Grammar As Some See It
If only grammar were simplified
we then could speak uncriticized.
Or, if grammar were abandoned
we’d all be speaking standard.
Think how easy it would be
to speak flawed yet naturally,
and not worry that what we say
is the right or proper way.
The purist will of course object
and castigate me as a derelict,
arguing that ungrammatical English
is speech reduced to gibberish.
But I remind him of this fact:
language is a spontaneous act,
and much of what passes today
as proper English was yesterday
condemned as bad and therefore
unsuitable and socially improper.
How, then, is it today acceptable
when once it was objectionable?
I’ll tell you why and clearly: Because
language does not progress by laws
fixed and rigid: rather time and usage
are what mold and move language.
And so, to every stuffed shirt scholar
I say, don’t get hot under the collar,
what you angrily dismiss today as rubbish
will tomorrow be proper English.
Copyright ©
Maurice Rigoler
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