grammargirlAMA

Thanks! I consider it an insult to be called a prescriptivist (although I understand why people could get that impression). I think both can happily co-exist. The way I think, they aren't in conflict. Language always has changed, language will continue to change, and I'm glad it does. But when people are looking to get ahead in school or at work, they have to follow the standard conventions, and I'm here to help them understand what those are. But whenever possible, I try to give people context. Ending a sentence with a preposition is a good example. I tell people it's a completely bogus rule, but that you should follow it in important situations because a lot of people in power still think it's a rule.

I'm often tempted to break the singular "they" rule. We've been writing the final rules for my card game Peeve Wars and you get sentences such as "When a player draws a card, he or she must decide whether to put it in his or her army or discard it." Ugh! So awkward. Last week we spent at least 10 minutes trying to rewrite a rule so we didn't have to use three instances of "he or she."

Yes, this is the first time I've posted to Reddit. My early experiences were being flamed to kingdom come because I wrote an article saying "irregardless" is a word and someone posted it to Reddit, and Reddit sending 30,000+ people to my website to hear my voice as an example of awful vocal fry. So I have to say, this experience has been a lot better!

I HATE the phrase grammar Nazi and I don't encourage people to act that way. I've said in interviews many times that I won't correct people's grammar. I think it's rude. I had a long, weird interview on a Canadian radio station where the host said she wanted people to correct her grammar, and I just couldn't agree. People say the same thing to me (about worrying about their grammar when the talk to me or write to me) and it makes me sad.

Ahem, cough, cough. Anyone want to talk about the fact that I make games? :-)