English Grammar Day
14 July 2014
Professor Charlotte Brewer was one of the organisers of a successful English grammar day at the British Library this month.
The aim of the day was to discuss “to discuss the rights and wrongs of how we speak and how this is, or should be, tackled in the classroom” – topics covered included: do the government’s new grammar tests pass muster with linguists? Should schools be discouraging the allegedly ubiquitous use of forms such as ‘like’ and ‘innit’, or do those words serve some useful purpose? Whither the apostrophe? Are we allowed to use ‘they / their/ them’ as the singular impersonal pronoun in sentences such as ‘Every individual has their own view’, and if not, why not? Coverage of the conference can be read in The Guardian.