Say It Ain’t So

The Oxford University Press plans to publish the Plain English Guide, a new book on grammar which puts to rest some old rules. “If you think a sentence will be more emphatic, clear or rhythmical, split your infinitive,” the guide counsels. But to ruthlessly split infinitives might be considered an abomination by some English teachers. Author Martin Cutts, who is also the research director of the Plain Language Commission, adds it’s also OK to start sentences with “but”. “Jane Austen begins sentences with but’ on almost every page, and occasionally uses and’ in the same position,” Cutts notes. And so onward goes the language. (Reuters) ...So a traditionalist isn’t always an easy thing to continue being one of.