Does Grammar Matter?

Does it matter if you say your when you mean you’re? Or its instead of it’s?

Stephen Fry On Language

Here’s a wonderful speech to hear by Stephen Fry, made delightful to watch by Matthew Rogers.

There’s no right language or wrong language
any more than there are right or wrong clothes.
Context, convention, and circumstance are all.

Write As You Would Dress

I agree. Language is not right or wrong so much as it is more or less suitable and effective.

My approach? Dress [write] for the occasion. Dress [write] in a way that feels good to you and looks good or even gives pleasure to people whose opinions you care about. Try not to be too judgy about how others dress [express themselves]. And if all else fails, you can get away with a lot if you have on a great pair of boots [um…?].

I like to be grammatically well-dressed where I can, but without pedantry. I don’t like it when people are ridiculed for a misplaced apostrophe, but I’m mortified if I do it myself. I enjoy making up words, adopting neologisms, and deliberately ignoring  grammatical stuffiness.

Which is why this category is called Grammarama rather than Tight-Sphincter-Grammar.

Does Grammar Matter?

Does grammar matter? Is there right or wrong language? What do you think?

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