Be sensitive to changes in the language - Ten ways to avoid grammatical errors

100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019

Be sensitive to changes in the language
Ten ways to avoid grammatical errors

Even if you know all the rules of grammar, you’re covered only for today, not tomorrow. The rules change. Grammar is a living thing; it grows to meet new needs.

An obvious example of this is something called the degenderization of language. The feminist movement has successfully lifted our consciousness about the fact that English pronouns of unspecified gender are always male, a fact that contributes to the idea that males are the regular folk and females are something else. It is good grammar but poor feminism to write, “A doctor should always clean his stethoscope before checking someone’s heart.”

Several solutions to the problem have been suggested. Among them are he/she, his/her, and s/he. None has really caught on. What is catching on, however, is “A doctor should always clean their stethoscope,” an error in number that is perpetrated by people who would rather offend grammarians than feminists. It’s good feminism but bad grammar, and I don’t like it. In fact, to be perfectly honest about it, I hate it. But I’m starting to get used to it, and it seems to be earning its way into the language. If it proves to be made of hearty stuff, I will welcome it.

The point is that it’s bad grammar today, but it might be good grammar ten years from now. Today’s rules have no better shot at immortality than thee and thou had.