In college I had a requirement to take either a history of English language course or a linguistics course. I heard that in linguistics you had to make noises together to learn how people pronounce things. I picked the history of English language course, opting to shyly sit silently and almost anonymously, like in all my other classes.
I never thought I'd learn about linguistics after that. But, somehow, picking up a history of English language book, The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language by David Crystal, brought me there! English language history involves linguistics! And linguistics is part of the travel of languages. It's fun to learn about how other cultures interpret and make English their own.
Crystal points out a helpful way to think about all the grammar books out there. Do we (Americans) know grammar? We know more than you probably think! If English is your native language, you probably know a load of grammar, he says. Really. A whole lot of grammar has to do with syntax, which we know naturally.
It's encouraging and fun. Liberating even, to know that you can just have fun and enjoy what you write, instead of, after every couple words, wondering if it is perfectly meeting many rules that may differ by gammar book.
I'm hoping to read and write more just for fun. It's easy to get caught up in wanting to make things perfect and wanting to know the exact purpose/end of something.
