Post the Third In Which I Sucker for an odd Debate

Ron, you say that English of the First Millenium is almost like a foreign language compared to English of the Third Millenium. This strengthens your point more than mine I suppose.

From An Anglo-Saxon Reader, by Milton Haight Turk (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927) I choose a passage for which I'm sure you have the translation (bear with me, I don't have my computer enabled to handle Anglo-Saxon characters, more's the pity):

Chapter I. Alfred as Lawgiver

From King Alfred's Law-Code. The texts is that of the Parker MS. (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge), which belongs to the second quarter of the tenth century [ed. (that's me) A.D. 925-950].

Dryhten waes sprecende thas word to Moyse on thus cwaeth: Ic eom Dryhten thin God: ic the utgelaedde of Egipta londe ond of hiora theowdome. Ne lufa thu othre fremde godas ofer me. Ne minne noman ne cig thu on idelnesse cigst minne noman. Gemyn thaet thu gehalgige thone raestedaeg; wyrceath eow VI dagas ond on tham diofothan restath eow; for tham on VI dagum Crist geworhte heofonas on eorthan, saes on ealle gesceafta the on him sint, ond hine gereste on thone siofothan daeg; ond for thon Dryhten hine gehalgode.

Did you get that? It's basically the first translation into English (Anglo-Saxon) of any part of the Bible. Specifically Exodus chapter 20, the first three Commandments.

Grammar rules that fail to promote effective communication for the majority of situations that the speakers of a language find themselves in, from the various scientific endeavors, to sports to housework, cannot be widely adopted. They will precipitate us into a situation in which people will barely be able to communicate with one another at all. As I said in the note below it is useful for teachers of English to teach in a prescriptive manner in order for them to promote the widest communication skills among their students.

Having said that, Ron, I haven't caught you dangling any participles. (Though I'm not going to waste any time examining your writings for them either.) Are you claiming that there is no situation in which precise understanding is necessary?

Oh, there will always be argots, which are terminologies specific to different activities, but the grammar doesn't vary greatly when exact understanding is needed to accomplish a task.