English Plus+ News, March 2000

Last time we read about how Latin (and to a lesser extent Koine Greek and Hebrew) had become studied in Europe and analyzed using Latin grammar techniques. This was not the case with the living languages such as English until the late 1400's when a major development changed things. Suddenly it became more important that English and other European languages follow some sort of rules.

That major devlopment, of course, was the Printing Press.

Suddenly it was possible for people to make many copies of the written word. It was possible to disseminate information much more quickly and widely. And, naturally, those who disseminated the information wanted it to be understood by as many readers as possible.

With some 30 or so regional dialects in England, Caxton knew that he could not publish so that every reader would understand every word. Instead, he chose to write and translate English into a form that would be understood by as many people as possible.

There are two obvious reasons for this. First, he wanted to communicate. He wanted to make the writings as widely understandable as possible. Second, he wanted to profit from his printing press. The larger his potential audience, the larger his potential sales.

Even then he had some problems. He wrote, for example, that folks from one side of the Thames normally said twa eggis, or two eggs. Those from other side normally said zw' eien for the same thing (more like modern Dutch or German). He decided that he liked the sound of twa eggis better. Today it is pronounced two eggs, and some scholars say that Caxton's choice may be why we say two instead of zwa for the second whole number.

In order to make the written word more intelligible, Caxton and others realized that it would be necessary to try to make spelling more uniform and to organize grammar rules for English in the manner that languages like Latin were taught in the schools.

The overall effect was that a Standard Written English evolved. There was an element of snob appeal, in that the "correct" English was often that spoken by the more educated. However, since the educated class included most clergy and teachers, the standard spread and most people became familiar with it. More important than educational uniformity, though, was simple necessity. People wanted to do business and communicate with one another. A standard grammar and spelling would help. It still does.

About the only "sanctioned" effort in English was the committee of 54 translators authorized by King James I to translate the Bible in 1611. That Authorized or King James Bible became a standard only because it was widely used, not because the King authorized it. (Technically, he only authorized the translation of it. No one authorized the final product.)

Other languages, notably French, have attempted to have an official elite sanction what is proper or taught. Even today, the French Academy does this. English has never done this. If there have been any standards, it is because people recognized them.

This has meant a few things for speakers and learners of English.

Second, it means that extreme Latinists in English grammar can be taken with a grain of salt. The standard is for effective communication, not to impress others. In America, for example, the standards used by the New York Times, the University of Chicago, Noah Webster's Dictionary of the American Language and blue-backed speller, Francis McGuffey's Eclectic Readers and Strunk and White's Element's of Style have probably had more effect than anything else.

Third, because there is no standard vocabulary or "academy," English is remarkably tolerant of accepting new words, whether coined from existing words or roots or taken from another language. This makes English the richest language for words and shades of meaning. It also makes the language challenging for foreign learners. English speakers tend to point out spelling difficulties, but those are a small minority of words in the language. What is really trickier is just the large vocabulary with many shades of meaning such a vocabulary brings.

Anyway, where did the rules come from? It came from common usage. In the long run, they have been a boon. They have helped printers sell more wares. They have helped businesses do business more precisely. They have helped everyone communicate more clearly.

What else will change English? It will be very difficult to change much except vocabulary. Prior to the printing press, dialects ruled all languages. In the last century with phonograph recordings, broadcast media, faster transportation, and what followed, even pronunciation has become more standard. Many dialects have disappeared.

Geographical distances and divisions used to account for most language changes, and the relatively rapid changes of languages. We can speak of Latin in the year AD 500, but by AD 1000 at the latest, Latin no longer existed. It had become French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and so on.

Between 1500 and 2000 English has changed little. The printing press brought standardization. The growth in transportation and communication technology, especially since the early 1800's, has increased uniformity.

As a result, English and other widely spoken languages have become more easily understood by all who speak them, and the rules make it easier for others to learn the languages. The "rules" of English should continue to be recognized as more of the world does business in the language.

Too often teachers and others confuse the name of the word with its function. In "I enjoy eating," the direct object of enjoy is a verb. The term gerund, as explained before, only confuses the student. It is a useless term. It is a participle used as a noun in spite of what the dictionary may tell us. The dictionaries follow the fallacy followed by scholars who insisted on making English grammar fit the Latin mold.

Latin is an inflective language. Functions of words are shown by their endings. English is a syntactic language. Functions of words depend on their positions in a sentence. The two are nothing alike.

The following chart may be helpful in understanding substitution and parts of speech in English. The last column (#5) independent expressors or interjections include such words as oh, well and various cuss words. Lexcographers erroneously call some of them adverbs, again demonstrating their inadequacies. This is a more realistic picture of the way the words in English are used and the way they relate to one another.

	1. Namers	2. Predicators	3. Modifiers		4. Connectors	5. Independent Expressions
Words	Nouns Pronouns	Verbs	Adjectives	Adverbs	Prepositions Conjunctions	Interjections
Phrases	Prepositional Participial (gerund) Infinitive	Verb phrases	Prepositional Participial Infinitive	Prepositional Participial Infinitive	Compound Prepositions Compound Conjunctions	Interjectory phrases
Clauses	Noun Clause	(None)	Adjective Clause	Adverb Clause	(None)	(None)

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