Viva Lewes Issue #114 March 2016

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IN town this month Oliver Kamm Ain’t no grammar pedant Your book Accidence Will Happen takes on grammar pedants, or ‘sticklers’, who adhere to outdated and never-true-in-the-first-place grammatical ‘rules’. Are you attacking them with the zeal of the converted? I am a reformed stickler but my attack on the grammar pedants isn’t (I hope) due to zeal. It’s down to the fact they peddle ideas about ‘correct grammar’ that are factually wrong. Can you explain to our readers, in a nutshell, the difference between ‘prescriptive’ grammar theory and ‘descriptive’ grammar theory? Prescriptivists argue about how people ought to use the language. Descriptivists assess the way people actually do this. Why did 18th-century grammarians want to impose the rules of Latin grammar on the English language? They believed that Latin was a pure form of language and that English was somehow inferior. This was a total misconception but they tried to force English grammar into the mould of Latin. Could your getting repeatedly irritated by grammar pedants be regarded as a form of (grammar) pedantry in itself? No. It’s a matter of looking at linguistic evidence, which pedants rarely do. Why did the Microsoft Word grammar-check underline the word ‘your’ in my last question? Was it being a grammar pedant? Yes, it was, and it was in error. My advice is to switch off the grammar-check. You propose that terms which are often used in Standard English speech and writing should be considered correct, yet you don’t endorse the use of the word ‘actress’, which is very commonly used. Can you explain this decision? It’s purely a stylistic preference. Modern mores rule out a word like ‘authoress’ on the grounds that it’s dismissive and demeaning. I’d extend this to ‘actress’ too. Do you ever come to blows with the sub-editor of the Times who corrects your weekly piece on English usage? Is there anything in the Times style guide you disagree with? (Or did you write it?) Quite recently one of my economics columns had a split infinitive removed by a sub-editor. I didn’t agree but I buckled down. Generally the Times style guide sensibly doesn’t force journalists’ prose to accord with arbitrary edicts. If the ‘prescriptive’ v ‘descriptive’ theories about grammar were fighting a war, who would be winning that war? Don’t wish to sound evasive but it’s a false division. The prescriptivists are wrong in thinking that there is an objective standard of correctness independent of the way people use the language. All scholarly linguists – literally all of them – adopt a descriptivist approach. I used to think that ‘misled’ (pronounced ‘my-zuld’) was the past simple of the regular verb ‘to misle’, meaning ‘to hoodwink’. When were you last embarrassed after incorrect/ inappropriate use of English? Well into adulthood I pronounced ‘picturesque’ as ‘pictureskew’. What a dolt. Interview by Alex Leith Oliver will be addressing the <strong>Lewes</strong> Literary Society on <strong>March</strong> 29th, 8pm, All Saints lewesliterarysociety.co.uk 31
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Page 4 and 5: WHERE BOOKS, IDEAS & CREATIVITY BLO
Page 6: the mind issue 77 Hearth, Italian f
Page 9: Matt Carr has designed a few covers
Page 12 and 13: TOUR THE WINE ESTATE EAT OR STAY AT
Page 14 and 15: its and bobs lewes worthy Sometime
Page 16 and 17: L I V E 2 0 1 6 OPEN 24 HOURS LINE
Page 19 and 20: its and bobs ghost pubs: #17 The Br
Page 21: photography CARLOTTA LUKE robinson
Page 24 and 25: The Pelham arms HigH St • LeweS A
Page 26 and 27: ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE & OUTSTANDING P
Page 29: column Photo by Mark Bridge East of
Page 33: in town this month: comedy Cryer an
Page 36 and 37: Meet Our Team CHRIS KINGHAM Trainee
Page 38 and 39: art Charleston at 100 A photographi
Page 40 and 41: Beautiful art, affordable prices De
Page 43: in lewes: ART art & about In town t
Page 46 and 47: SG12 events card DL 03e DATE CHANGE
Page 48 and 49: EAS06P029 920 Viva Lewes Spring Sea
Page 50 and 51: MARch listings (cont) Thu 10, Sat 1
Page 52 and 53: Look great in glasses Wilson, Wilso
Page 55: MARCH listings (cont) Fri 18 Talk.
Page 58 and 59: Guest Director: Laurie Anderson 7-2
Page 60 and 61: BURGESS HILL GIRLS. THE JOURNEY STA
Page 62 and 63: Edmund Cudlipp Lower Sixth Economis
Page 64 and 65: Educating mind, body, heart & soul
Page 67 and 68: êêêê under 16 young photo of th
Page 69 and 70: êêêê under 16 Are you Sitting C
Page 71 and 72: food Buttercup Health goes mainstre
Page 73 and 74: food Hot cross buns With Good Frida
Page 75: food The Greek Girls Supper Club Th
Page 78 and 79: Rathfinny Estate Jonathan Médard,
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the way we work Tom Lockyer, psycho
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the way we work Lisa Darnell, couns
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the way we work Vibha Donne, psycho
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the LOWDOwN on... Iyengar Yoga with
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IMAGINATION It’s what sets us apa
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lewes in history Samuel Medhurst Le
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feature: wildlife Brown Hare March
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WE TRY... E-biking The hills are a
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football Football Academy A new cla
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Lewes District Council www.lewes.go
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DIRECTORY Please note that though w
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home
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other services cars www.andrewwells
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Viva Lewes Issue #114 March 2016

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