Clash Between Traditional Grammar And Modern Grammar

The Author

Introduction
What can be termed as "Usage Liberalism" in contemporary times has become a source of clash between Traditional Grammar and Modern Grammar in many areas of language education and usage. Under the guise of Modern Grammar, liberalists seemingly continue to defeat pendants in a number of grammatical principles. The result of this trend is the expansion of the frontiers of grammatical validity. Indeed, most words and usage patterns which were WRONG in Traditional Grammar are now RIGHT by virtue of Modern Grammar.

Below are some of these words which have been validated by Modern Grammar:

● "Agendas" instead of "Agenda" as plural
● "Medias" instead of Media as plural
In Etymology (origins of words) these words have been borrowed from Latin. Known as "um" ending words, they have the following singular forms:

● Agendum
and
● Medium.
Therefore, to make them plural in Traditional Grammar, one needed to replace "um" with "a". That was why the plural versions were

● Agenda
and
● Media
Let us consider illustrative sentences using the newly accepted plural versions, which are found in the latest editions of leading dictionaries and other usage authorities.

Illustrative Sentences
● Chalpang and Kataali have stated that they have no hidden AGENDAS in their call for unity and peace in Dagbon State.

● To a large extent, the European MEDIAS are tools of destroying African culture.

Conclusion
Conclusively, it is important for readers to understand that prescriptive grammarians who are mostly grammar purists are still skeptical about "agendas", "medias", and plural versions of similar words accepted in Modern Grammar. But their pedantic mentality does not prevent users' discretion in diction. The choice is ours - to remain in a state of traditional purity or to succumb to the dictates of linguistic modernity.

Allah is the Best Linguist.
This discourse is dedicated to all those who wished us well on our birthday, yesterday. In fact, we were overwhelmed and honored by the mountain of messages of congratulation and prayer from admirers. We remain humble servants of the people. May Allah bless all of them.

By Dr. Abubakar Mohammed Marzuq Azindoo
Lecturer, University of Applied Management, Germany - Ghana Campus, McCarthy Hill, Accra