Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

by Kory Stamper

As we go through life (and particularly through school), we collect more blocks to stack on our foundation: don’t end sentences with prepositions; don’t use the passive voice; use “were” for “was” in conditional clauses (though not always, and the exceptions are more blocks to collect later). The blocks become smaller, able to be wedged into any noticeable gaps in our walls. “Lay” is used with a stated object (“lay the book on the table”) and “lie” is used without a stated object (“I’m going to lie down on the sofa”); “who” is only used in reference to people and “that” only in reference to things; definitely do not ever, under any circumstances, use “ain’t.” We scrabble at these and mortar them into place, building our towers higher and higher and always comparing ourselves with people who have found fewer bricks or have built their towers sloppily. It’s all reckoned as “grammar” to us, by which we inevitably mean “good grammar” and by which we measure ourselves against others.