By Pat Forbis, CMT

A recent thought-provoking feature article in The Editorial Eye gives one pause to consider what is happening to traditional grammatical rules and to assess the emergence of usage-based grammar and the slow but steady disappearance of rule-based grammar. As language continues to evolve from Standard English to Standard American, so is rule-based grammar evolving into usage-based grammar.

There are many factors contributing to the sweeping changes in our language. Television presents many opportunities to hear usage-based grammar during sit-coms, commercials, reality and talk shows, and so on. Internet chat rooms and blogs have significantly contributed, and cell phone text messaging has taken even Standard American language to a level that sometimes borders on incoherence, or at least on something similar to the once popular pig-Latin, a language that served as a code between the users. Last, but certainly not least, is the lack of teaching and therefore learning of traditional rule-based grammar. Spelling and grammar as we once knew them appear to be of little or no concern to modern-day users.

One spokesperson for usage-based grammar observed, “In many circumstances, usage-based applications become so common that they eventually become rule-based.” In medicine, the use of backformations is a good example of common usage becoming the rule rather than the exception. Consider that because of common usage, the once traditional “prepared and draped” became the often used and now correct “prepped and draped”. Words such as “bovied” and other forms of verbal shorthand may also one day find their way into the acceptable language of medicine.

Grammarians who view themselves as grammar purists in today’s changing culture are often viewed as old-fashioned or worse, and those who survive the language evolution unscathed should arm themselves with a liberal outlook toward language progression and keep their sense of humor intact.

For medical transcriptionists and for those in quality assurance roles, the rule-based-to-usage-based changes in grammar create confusion, or sometimes chaos. What is “right” and what is “wrong” is not as clear as it once was, and a universal definition of “quality” for medical transcription is obscure. Like the definition of a line, it depends on whom you ask.