Welcome

WELCOME TO THE GREEN PEN!

It's my personal soapbox, a place for me to express thoughts and feelings, musings and rants, reflections and recollections; to have fun with words -- about things spiritual, environmental, social, political, economic, and, from time to time, personal. And of course about peace. Soapboxes are in public places (as London's legendary Hyde Park) on purpose, and so I invite conversations with you, for it is through civil discourse that we can gain some perspective on the seeming chaos of these changing times and learn together how to shape a positive future for ourselves, our communities, and the generations to come.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Without rules, what’s a rebel to do??

Rules of grammar, in this case, but the question could apply in any context.

According to Kory Stamper, a writer of (of all things) dictionaries at Merriam-Webster, there’s no logical basis for a law that says it’s wrong to wantonly split an infinitive. Even more startling, I can even pick any preposition I like to end a sentence with! And, as if that weren’t enough, its historically and grammatically consistent to drop the apostrophe from the “it-is” contraction and to put one in it’s possessive.

Just another sign that the world of order and certainty is crumbling into chaos! Definitely a good time to practice living in the not knowing.