(linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
Used in a Sentence
prescriptivists
Definition, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for prescriptivists.
Editorial note
It only seems to annoy prescriptivists, and I would say one has a moral obligation to annoy prescriptivists anyway.
Examples18
Definitions1
Parts of speech1
Quick take
(linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of prescriptivists gathered in one view.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for prescriptivists.
noun
(linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
Example sentences
It only seems to annoy prescriptivists, and I would say one has a moral obligation to annoy prescriptivists anyway.
Some people are prescriptivists and believe that learned language experts should determine what is and isn't correct usage.
This article starts off sounding like it is making an argument against prescriptivists, then claims that older standards are more authoritative?
People really should listen to the professional grammarians and linguists before becoming monomaniacal prescriptivists.
It's yet another fight between prescriptivists and descriptivists over what defines correct language usage.
He covers (very fairly and entertainingly, IMO) the major divide between linguistic prescriptivists and descriptivists, and why both camps have a point.
And, for the prescriptivists out there, don't fall victim to the recency illusion.
A kilobyte has meant 2^10 bytes since the very first time anyone ever used the term, and it has continued to mean that in every case except for dishonest drive manufacturers and revisionist prescriptivists.
All but the strictest prescriptivists would now accept that usage.
Hopefully the prescriptivists will learn language evolves irregardless of whether we want it to.
If you really want to be correct, it's best to just do what other prescriptivists seem to believe is right and not think about it too much.
So I fall back to the common usages that tend to bother prescriptivists.
Quote examples
I guess they're under extra pressure from know-it-all prescriptivists to keep our language "pure".
“Distinct” would do, I suppose, as surrender to the language prescriptivists.
It doesn't make sense to say that "they" is being adopted in place of "it" (you could say that grammar prescriptivists are losing ground in their efforts to say that "they" is wrong).
(Opinion)." could also be excoriated by prescriptivists for being ungrammatical on the grounds that it is a sentence fragment, yet it gets the point across and I have yet to see anyone complain about it.
Proper noun examples
Prescriptivists might not like it but descriptivists see it being used for hundreds of years.
Prescriptivists tend to have a much broader notion, however (e.g.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use prescriptivists in a sentence?
It only seems to annoy prescriptivists, and I would say one has a moral obligation to annoy prescriptivists anyway.
What does prescriptivists mean?
(linguistics) Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
What part of speech is prescriptivists?
prescriptivists is commonly used as noun.