• Contact
  • Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Sign Up for Deals

    • Login
Book Cave: Authors and Publisher promotional services and features
Book Cave
Authors & Publishers
Connecting the RIGHT readers with the RIGHT books
  • About
    • Book Cave Reviews
    • Who We Are
      • Mission
      • In the Works
      • Book Cave Logos
      • Meet the Ratings
    • Privacy Center
      • Privacy & Terms
      • Your Privacy Rights
    • Affiliate Program Agreement
    • Trademarks
  • Current Deals
    • Deals from Retailers
    • Book Cave Direct Deals
      • Exclusive Ebook Downloads
      • Free Group Deals
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Readers
    • Sign Up
    • Rated Books Database
    • Rate a book I’ve read
    • Browse Author Pages
    • Reader FAQ
    • Reader Blog
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Authors
    • How It Works
    • Our Services
      • Feature Your Book
      • Group Features
      • Subscriber Magnet Services
      • MBR Ratings
      • Create an Author Page
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Pricing
    • Submit a Book
    • Create Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Author Resources
      • Author Blog
      • Author FAQ
      • Promotion Tips
      • Cover Guide Calculator
  • Book Swag
  • Contact
  • Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Sign Up for Deals

    • Login
  • About
    • Book Cave Reviews
    • Who We Are
      • Mission
      • In the Works
      • Book Cave Logos
      • Meet the Ratings
    • Privacy Center
      • Privacy & Terms
      • Your Privacy Rights
    • Affiliate Program Agreement
    • Trademarks
  • Current Deals
    • Deals from Retailers
    • Book Cave Direct Deals
      • Exclusive Ebook Downloads
      • Free Group Deals
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Readers
    • Sign Up
    • Rated Books Database
    • Rate a book I’ve read
    • Browse Author Pages
    • Reader FAQ
    • Reader Blog
    • Giveaways
      • Win a Free Ereader!
      • Last Giveaway Winner
      • Past Winners
  • Authors
    • How It Works
    • Our Services
      • Feature Your Book
      • Group Features
      • Subscriber Magnet Services
      • MBR Ratings
      • Create an Author Page
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Pricing
    • Submit a Book
    • Create Account
    • Become an Affiliate
    • Author Resources
      • Author Blog
      • Author FAQ
      • Promotion Tips
      • Cover Guide Calculator
  • Book Swag
Writing for Authors
25 Aug 2020 at 08:00 AM PDT
Updated 1 year ago

Prescriptivism Versus Descriptivism and How It Applies to Writing Books

By Catia Shattuck

Advertisement

JutohWe at Book Cave prefer Jutoh for ebook creation because it gives us more control than most other ebook software out there, while still maintaining a friendly interface.

Browse by topic

All Posts Tutorials Author Pages Technical Tips Writing for Authors Ebook Formatting Grammar & Punctuation Publishing Tips Author Website Promotion & Marketing Social Media Mailing Lists Cover Design

Prescriptivism Versus Descriptivism

I'm a book wyrm
We hope you enjoy reading this post!
If you’re like us and love to read, then click here to score tons of free and discounted ebooks.

You may or may not be familiar with the terms “prescriptivism” and “descriptivism,” but even if you don’t know what they mean, you are definitely familiar with the concepts they represent. Prescriptivism is the belief that there is a correct way to speak and write, that language should be prescribed. Descriptivism is the belief that since language is constantly changing, it should be described. Prescriptivism states what usage is correct or incorrect based on a set of rules; descriptivism states what usage is correct and incorrect based on what the majority of people are actually saying and writing.

Many of the rules of prescriptivism you’ve no doubt heard: don’t end a sentence with a preposition, don’t split an infinitive, don’t start a sentence with a conjunction, don’t use incomplete sentences and sentence fragments, “can” and “may” have different meanings, and be sure to keep “who” and “whom” straight. But these rules are often a matter of preference to those who originally made them, rather than to create clear sentences. And several rules are derived from rules in Latin, such as not splitting an infinitive, and really shouldn’t be applied to English. Sometimes keeping the rules can lead to awkward sentence constructions.

Some rules, though, do help with clarity, such as a serial comma, or conjugating verbs like “lay” and “lie.” And if you ignore all the rules while writing, others will call your book poorly written and poorly edited.

I submit that the best route is descriptivism, but instead of using everything you might hear, choose instead a level of educated descriptivism. That way you won’t be accused of grammar mistakes AND your books will be more accessible to the average reader. So, does the difference between “who” and “whom” or “can” and “may” really matter when writing a novel? I don’t believe so. And sometimes that sentence fragment is just what you need to deliver appropriate shock value. As always, I recommend reading books that are doing well in your genre and following their example.

What is your stance on prescriptivism and descriptivism? Let us know in the comments below!

If you’d like to learn more about Book Cave promotions and receive more writing tips, please enter your email below and click the “Learn More” button to receive our author newsletter.

Copyright 2020 by Book Cave
Reuse notice: Non-commercial users, feel free to print out “Prescriptivism Versus Descriptivism and How It Applies to Writing Books” for personal use or give to friends, share online, or make a meme of, as long as you attribute and link back to this post. Commercial users, you may share a link to this post or quote a short excerpt from it with attribution and a link to this site, but you may not use this post in its entirety. Thank you for caring about copyright.

Share this authorpost

Keep Reading

book cave elements and themes

New Book Cave Elements and Themes!

With our addition of elements and elements, you can better target an audience that is looking for certain content, regardless of genre.

Common Tautology to Avoid in Your Writing

Common Tautology to Avoid in Your Writing

Cutting out tautology will make your writing more concise and professional, so watch out for these common tautology phrases while self-editing your writing.

New Year’s Resolutions for Authors

New Year’s Resolutions for Authors

Yes, it’s that time of year. Check out these New Year’s resolutions that will help you grow as an author and sell more books.

Hello fellow book lover! We hope you are enjoying this post.
If you want free, content-rated ebooks that you can download straight from your favorite retailer, just sign up for our free newsletter
Sign me up!

Leave a Reply

Cancel


Comments

  1. Sharon Rose
    Sharon Rose • 2 years ago

    I prefer a flexible approach. If all writing had to be 100% prescriptive, I would quit publishing. It smacks too much of perfectionism, which is unattainable because every human has a different opinion of what is perfectly correct. I don’t like sloppy writing either. If all writing shifted to that end of the spectrum, I would quit reading.
    When I’m writing a story, I think about the voice that is right for the character. I use that form of grammar for their dialogue and for any narrative when they are the point of view character. That means that a single book may have a different balance of prescriptivism vs. descriptivism for different characters. I think that’s closest to real life.

    Reply
Receive free ebooks on Amazon Kindle from Book Cave
Receive free ebooks on Apple Books from Book Cave
Receive free ebooks on Google Play from Book Cave
Receive free ebooks on Kobo from Book Cave
Receive free ebooks on Nook from Book Cave
Receive free ebooks on Smashwords from Book Cave
Book Cave
Book Cave Direct
My Book Ratings
MY BOOK RATINGS
Connecting the RIGHT readers with the RIGHT books
  • Sitemap
  • Contact Us
  • Free ebooks
© Book Cave - All the rights reserved!