Have you noticed how many people begin sentences with “So” or “Okay” when answering questions? We see this in academic conferences, on television news, as well as in our leaders, sports stars, and heroes. But if using “So” to start a sentence is considered bad grammar, why do we do it, how do we stop, and/or is it too late? Has society spoken, have our English teachers forgotten? Let’s talk.

You see, I remember growing up and when I would use ‘so’ to start a sentence and pause before completing the sentence, my mother, who was an educator, an English teacher, would say; “So what? Sew buttons on your underwear” and this was her way of stopping me from doing that as a child. Not everyone has a good influence or role model, but if more teachers in school corrected students, there would be less of it. Including all English teachers working abroad, teaching in places like Japan, China, the Philippines, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc. etc along with other nations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the African and South American continents.

Worse, I guess, is the misuse in academia, as I’ve mentioned at conferences and in government talks, in CSPAN, congressional hearings, even Bernanke and the current girl who runs the Fed when answering questions from reporters. NASA scientists who explain their missions in layman’s terms use “so” at the beginning of a sentence, as do Canadian academics here on our side of the pond.

We would have to work hard to change this trend. Do we let this slide and work on the major misuses of the English language, the kinds of misuses that cause miscommunication, things that can lead to a political impasse or turn normal conversations into annoying ego answer contests?

Yeah, more people are talking about it, and someone cited a couple of good links to popular magazines, and not long ago I clipped an article discussing this in the Wall Street Journal. Some ink is getting, some thought, but it may be too late as the trend is in full swing, all over the world, even with new English-speaking people, just joining for the first time. We see it in emails, writings, and speeches almost everywhere.

Where do we go from here? Is Grammar 101 Still Relevant? What do new software programs like Grammarly say about things like this? If our best university professors are doing it, has the academy already decided, are we going to throw away the grammar book and move on? Does it even matter?

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