Our Language by Ashton von Westmeath
Style in language, whether spoken or written is of its very nature idiosyncratic. To further complicate matters, fashions in language change with time and social context as new words are coined and old words are discarded. Is this then licence to destroy, piecemeal, grammatical structure? Are we to stand by as the language is reduced to y’know, like, bogan bland. Must we accept that, despite their name, prepositions (pre-positions) can be placed at the end of sentences?
No one expects a return to the rolling periods of Thomas Babington Macauly, Edmond Burke or Edward Gibbon, but surely we can do better than ‘police speak'? Why, “on arrival police ascertained that a male person was deceased and are treating this as a suspected crime of violence?” Why not, “ Police found a man dead and think that he was murdered?”
It should give us pause for thought that the Department of Education recently admitted that it was not possible to find enough teachers to teach the basics of English grammar. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Oh, I forgot, we no longer teach that either!
Should you think that none of this matters; that the dumbing down of society is really not of any great moment, it might be worth remembering the period after the fall of Rome, lasting for many centuries, is known as ‘The Dark Ages’. Lacking education, governed by venal jobsworths, real power in the hands of an immoral oligarchy, the world sank into chaos. Much like today, really.
Look to the education of your children, for, if you fail in this one thing the world could easily fail in all things. Teach them rigour of thought, and how to communicate those thoughts in concise, reasoned prose. Let them love language, for this is the foundation on which all else is built.
Style in language, whether spoken or written is of its very nature idiosyncratic. To further complicate matters, fashions in language change with time and social context as new words are coined and old words are discarded. Is this then licence to destroy, piecemeal, grammatical structure? Are we to stand by as the language is reduced to y’know, like, bogan bland. Must we accept that, despite their name, prepositions (pre-positions) can be placed at the end of sentences?
No one expects a return to the rolling periods of Thomas Babington Macauly, Edmond Burke or Edward Gibbon, but surely we can do better than ‘police speak'? Why, “on arrival police ascertained that a male person was deceased and are treating this as a suspected crime of violence?” Why not, “ Police found a man dead and think that he was murdered?”
It should give us pause for thought that the Department of Education recently admitted that it was not possible to find enough teachers to teach the basics of English grammar. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Oh, I forgot, we no longer teach that either!
Should you think that none of this matters; that the dumbing down of society is really not of any great moment, it might be worth remembering the period after the fall of Rome, lasting for many centuries, is known as ‘The Dark Ages’. Lacking education, governed by venal jobsworths, real power in the hands of an immoral oligarchy, the world sank into chaos. Much like today, really.
Look to the education of your children, for, if you fail in this one thing the world could easily fail in all things. Teach them rigour of thought, and how to communicate those thoughts in concise, reasoned prose. Let them love language, for this is the foundation on which all else is built.