Why It’s Okay to Ignore Your Grammar Checker

(Sometimes)

“You’ve just violated grammar code part 5, section 29: Using a comma to set off a dependent clause following a restrictive main clause. What do you have to say for yourself?”

You might feel like you’ve been pulled over by the grammar police when reviewing edits from a copyeditor or suggestions from grammar software.

Grammar gets a bad rap. Grammar conventions are like traffic rules-they keep things running smoothly and without them, we’d have have chaos. Still, sometimes we want to speed.

There are many reasons to flout grammar rules, only some of which are valid. Here are a few common defenses:

Defense #1: Everyone else is doing it

While this defense rarely works in traffic court, it has merit in the world of grammar.

Language and usage evolve as our behaviors shift and the world changes. Today, you can safely ignore rules you may have learned years ago, such as:

• Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.
• And, don’t start sentences with conjunctions.