Reply To: English tips.

Let’s be clear about “rules” of grammar and usage. No one goes to jail for breaking them. But (oops) if you want to make yourself clear to readers, following the rules helps a lot. (And, according to a beloved English teacher, “a lot” is a parcel of real estate, not an expression of high quantity. Shame on me.)

One other point: some snobs (not me, though I am a snob) follow the rules of grammar to show off their class status, just to let readers know they been tuh college or their Dad’s a bank president or Wall Street gonif. William F. Buckley followed all the rules he learned at, and before he attended, Yale, but he used so many little-known big words that his meaning was usually lost on everyone. But (oops again) he loved showing off.