John Simon’s article “Why Good English is Good for You” presents the conservative point of view. His conservative view is found throughout the article. For example, “ Be that as it may, playing without rules and winning—in this instance, managing to communicate without using good English—is no more satisfactory than winning in a sport or game by accident or by disregarding the rules: which is really cheating” (206). He holds grammar rules at a high priority, a priority which conservative grammarians hold just as he does. Another key conservative view that is seen in John Simons work is his use of the words correct and incorrect and their inflections. For example, he says “If you have only a thousand words in which to convey an important message
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He starts by telling that the clarity and concision of good English make our communication more effective. He shows that it is important to have clarity and concision because “Space today is as limited as time” (204). Simon made that statement correctly because without clarity and concision we cannot convey our thoughts quickly and carefully. He also points out that good English provides us with a stable grammatical foundation. Without a strong grammatical foundation, we are not able to communicate to the best of our abilities. He purposefully sates that “‘figuring out’ is precisely what a listener or reader should not have to do” (203). When we have a solid grammatical foundation like Simon urges us to have, others will not have to guess the meaning of what we are saying. Simon points out that language will change by inventing new words, but that does not mean that our language’s foundation has to change as well. Simon aggressively speaks out against the linguistic evolution of language, an evolution which hinders verbal communication. He refers to it as being a “flood of ignorance” (209). Linguists will say that the language is just evolving, but conservatives like John Simon know that language needs to stay true to its root, syntactical
He starts by telling that the clarity and concision of good English make our communication more effective. He shows that it is important to have clarity and concision because “Space today is as limited as time” (204). Simon made that statement correctly because without clarity and concision we cannot convey our thoughts quickly and carefully. He also points out that good English provides us with a stable grammatical foundation. Without a strong grammatical foundation, we are not able to communicate to the best of our abilities. He purposefully sates that “‘figuring out’ is precisely what a listener or reader should not have to do” (203). When we have a solid grammatical foundation like Simon urges us to have, others will not have to guess the meaning of what we are saying. Simon points out that language will change by inventing new words, but that does not mean that our language’s foundation has to change as well. Simon aggressively speaks out against the linguistic evolution of language, an evolution which hinders verbal communication. He refers to it as being a “flood of ignorance” (209). Linguists will say that the language is just evolving, but conservatives like John Simon know that language needs to stay true to its root, syntactical