The 20 Most Controversial Rules in the Grammar World | Online College Tips – Online Colleges

Like anything else involving stringent rules and regulations, grammar harbors a hefty share of obsessive fanboys and fangirls who enjoy debating its ins, outs, and other various quirks. So of course controversies break out in academia, the media, and even intimate conversations between friends. Here are a few of the ones that churn stomachs and angry up the blood, in no particular order.

The Oxford Comma
Debates regarding whether the Oxford comma should keep on being used are comparable to those about the death penalty and/or abortion. Seriously. Most grammarians have an opinion on the subject, and their opinion is always right and never wrong ever and also they will use and insistent voice when relaying it.


The pronunciation of “controversial”

Go figure. Americans stand divided over whether to pronounce it “con-truh-VUR-see-yul” or “con-truh-VUR-shal.” You don’t even have to hop a plane across the pond to take part in the battle. Funny enough, Merriam-Webster‘s and The American Heritage Dictionary acknowledge both pronunciations. So now that a definitive answer exists, it’s time to get back to arguing about whether to call it soda, pop, or coke.


Double negatives

Although grammatically correct, debates regarding the permissibility of double negatives keep flaring up from time to time. Talks apparently originated when linguists pondered acceptance of the often controversial African-American Vernacular English, within which the grammar tweak is quite common. Unsurprisingly, these debates inherently come saddled with some rather unfortunate overtones.

(Hit the link above to see the original blog post and examples for each. I am just re-posting this as per their request. Enjoy!)