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Encyclopedia :: encyclopedia : Prescription and description (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-31) |
 | | Some prescriptive statements are phrased in the language of description: for instance, in many contexts "a man takes responsibility for his actions" would be understood as saying that a man ought to take responsibility for his actions. |
| | Lowth's grammar is the source of many of the prescriptive shibboleths that are studied in schools and was the first of a long line of usage commentators to judge the language in addition to describing it. |
| | (Descriptive critics, on the other hand, would take this example and others as evidence from noted writers that "who" can refer to direct objects in English.) Lowth's ipse dixits appealed to those who wished for certainty and authority in their language. |
| www.hallencyclopedia.com /Prescription_and_description (1347 words) |
