Dogmas And The Modern English Language

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present" (Abraham Lincoln).

Nobody wrote a dogmatic book on the rules of grammar on any language. Grammar is a study of the accepted norms by which a given society uses its given language to communicate within itself. The passage of time affects most things, and grammar is not exempt from this phenomenon. It would be highly abnormal for any speaker of the English language these days to go about speaking the language as if he/she were spouting the same language spoken by the Victorian poets such as Alfred Tennyson, etc. Most people would find that highly insufferable, to say the least. Or they might consider such a person to be ripe for an intimate visit to the interior wards of a psychiatric hospital.

The English vocabulary and diction have been the subjects of several revisions over the centuries. This would not have occurred if the language were eternally adequate on its own merits. Things change. Society must change along with these winds of change. And language is not exempt from these changes. But, once again, I suspect that I repeat myself.

The closest thing to the original old English language was grossly interfered with by the Greek, Latin and French influences of the Norman invaders. It changed, but in exchange the language was bequeathed a much richer vocabulary. Even this was not enough. The initial compilation attempt of the English dictionary sought to bring some semblance of order to what was otherwise perceived as chaotic, yet even that was not enough. Men like Shakespeare became highly imaginative and started crafting their own original words out of existing and non existing material. The result being that in a little over a century, the current dictionary and diction were rendered mostly obsolete.

Our generation has not been spared this interference from changing times. The current English dictionary is filled with, literally, thousands of words borrowed from myriads of sources like technological and scientific sectors, as well as the cultural ones. For example, 'text messages' is not only accepted as a formal and appropriate usage but 'text' has come to be even accepted as a genuine verb on its own: "He texted me from his blackberry."

One given fact about language is that it must have such a character as to be conveniently and comfortably employed by its users to express their urgent emotions without being perceived as laborious. This is where the American English has one leg up on the British English. The American English embraced many informal and colloquial usages which were cleaned up over time and allowed to stand on their own legs.

Let us, then, take a look at some of the example given by Grammar Girl. - [Who called Jodie? It was he.], [Who told you about it? It wasI.], [Who had the phone conversation? It must have been they.], [Who cares? It is we.] It would appear that while these types of structures were acceptable at some past era, they were also mostly governed by poetic liberties and grandiosity.

Let us imagine again, say: "Who cares? It is we". This could easily be translated to, say: "Who called the girls? It is we who called they". Without trying to deluge our minds with which part of this sentence is the ‘subject’ or ‘object’ or which is governed by which, one has to feel that something sounds a little bit off with structures like these. It seems laborious, and it feels like it might siphon a lot of wind out of the lungs even though it is a considerably short expression by character. It also feels like there is no closure yet to the speech

Take then, for instance, another case like: "We are the ones who can make these vultures to go away. It is us who can make them go away." It feels much easier to say this without over-tasking your physiological speech resources. Plus, it creates no room for controversies of the mind, whether warranted or otherwise. It can be said with some justifications, then, that language exists for the convenience of the human society. It’s not the other way round.

In response to the article: “It Is I” Versus “It Is Me”.

(http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-linking-verbs.aspx)