"When I read some of the rules for speaking and writing the English language correctly, I think any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it." — Henry David Thoreau

The sage of Walden Pond clearly understood human nature as fully as he understood Mother Nature. Many people blindly follow grammar and usage rules, whether those rules make any sense or not.

Let's take a look at three traditional linguistic decrees that we can occasionally — heck, often! — disregard.

—Never split an infinitive. Because Latin used one-word infinitives, e.g., "putare" (to think), 19th century grammarians arbitrarily decreed that the two-word infinitives in English, e.g. "to write," should also be treated as one word. Thus, they commanded that no words should ever be placed between a "to" and its "verb," e.g., "to carefully write."

But sometimes the smoothest and clearest way to express an infinitive is to split it. Which of these sentences, for instance, sounds most natural?: This seems to violate directly our policy. This seems to violate our policy directly. This seems to directly violate our policy.

— Never end a sentence with a preposition. In most cases, this rule does make sense. After all, we usually try to close a sentence with a knockout punch, but a puny preposition delivers only a feeble jab.

But when a preposition is a verb being stressed or part of a set verb phrase, it sounds perfectly natural at the end of a sentence, e.g., "This is what we're trying to fight against." "The family just scraped by." "You can count me out!" As you may know, Winston Churchill slyly described the prohibition on sentence-ending prepositions as "the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."

—Never begin a sentence with "And" or "But." Because "and" and "but" are conjunctions, they're usually placed between words and ideas within a sentence. But, when a writer wants to add new evidence to support or contradict a previous point, starting a sentence with "And" or "But" adds emphasis, e.g., "And furthermore, he's an honest man" ... "But his current actions defy logic."

After all, the third sentence of the Judeo-Christian Bible begins, "And God said, 'Let there be light.'" Likewise, in the Declaration of Independence, the sentence that first announces the decision to separate from Great Britain begins, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations..."

That was the "But" heard round the world.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: at Pixabay