My Thawtz

Nonsense ‘Carries Through’ the Anglophonic World By Jon N. Hall Before native speakers of the English language try to master the split infinitive, the passive voice, or the mysteries of the subjunctive mood, they might learn how to use conjunctions. Many Anglophones, even the highly educated, often don’t know which conjunction to use. One of the main reasons for this sad state of affairs is that for nearly a century, language experts, the guardians of our mother tongue, have been promoting a few bad ideas. I’m here to help. The rules of English language usage shouldn’t just codify the usage and logic of casual conversation. But that seems to be the case in a rule propounded by none other than Bryan A. Garner, usage expert par excellence . In my copy of the 2003 edition of the celebrated Garner’s Modern American Usage , all that one finds in the entry for the conjunction “or” is this: “See and/or. ” Garner’s entry for “and/or” is sound. Where we find the unfortunate rule for...