It’s a sweeping statement, but if you are old you’re more likely to be right.

By Steve Finan

June 21 2020, 6:00pm

One of the joys of a column about English which carries an email address is that people sometimes write to me.

I believe these people have two things in common with each other, and with me.

The first is a regard for language. This is heartening. I often feel marooned on a far shore where the folks converse in a tongue alien to my ear. Any support for a defence of the language is like hearing from an old friend.

This week Liz McIntosh, of Dundee, emailed asking if I thought the present participle is doomed? To illustrate her point Liz included a paragraph that amused me so much I hereby quote it in full: “At the gym I saw a swim coach giving swim lessons to a boy wearing swim trunks. Watching athletics on TV, I saw the race leaders followed by the chase group. They crossed the finish line, or was it the win line? If we go on the water we use a row boat, or a sail boat, though some have a dive boat. I hear of ladies in a knit club, who step out with a walk group, while leaving their cars at park spots.”

Modern English has two types of participle. The present, used in the active voice when we talk of things breaking, flying, or dying. And the past, used in the passive voice, when we mention things broken, flown or dead.

Let me come to the second thing my correspondents have in common.

I have never met Liz, and the last thing I’d do is insult her. But I don’t think she left school last year. I feel this is a trait shared by many people who care about language usage, and fulminate upon their annoyances. They have seen a few summers.

In an attempt to strengthen my point, I will make a sweeping statement. If a sentence sounds like your grandmother would use it, it is probably correct usage. If it sounds like a young varmint with myriad tattoos and a beribboned beard might use it, it’s more likely to contain incorrect usage.

If that sounds an unjustified and wholly unfair criticism of all young people, I do not mean it to. Quite the reverse.

Disregarding inked skin and facial hairstyles, if you are a young person who insists upon good language usage please accept my ardent admiration. But I fear you will live a life punctuated with frustrations as English continues to deteriorate. Good luck.