Why I dislike the word RULE in grammar.
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it hundreds of times: “The rule for X is Y.” Episode two of the podcast showcases a classic example of a rule which isn’t actually a rule at all. Many German school teachers and pupils are familiar with the adage if and would is not good. In fact, I’m frequently told that this is a rule.
Let’s have a little think about the word rule and its meaning before I go any further. Most people would agree that a rule is a principle that governs or restricts a particular area of our lives. In the case of grammar, rules guide learners and help them to avoid errors in areas of grammar which can be very complex. However, using the term rule can be hugely unhelpful for advanced learners who can and should develop a far more nuanced understanding of the grammatical phenomena behind the rule. As educators, we must remember that telling pupils or students that something is a rule often creates an environment of blind acceptance that rules hold true.
Let’s go back to that example from earlier: if and would is not good. For this rule to be helpful it would need a few tweaks. First up, if and would is not good only if the modal is being used conditionally (this applies to any modal being used conditionally, not just would). For example: If I would be you, I would use the word tendency instead of rule. You’ll recognise this as an example of the conditional two. The if-clause is hypothetical (I’m not you). The correct version of the sentence should read: If I were you, I would use the word tendency instead of rule. In conditional if-clauses if and would is not good. So far it looks like I’ve confirmed the rule, but this is where I break out examples of if and would/modal not confirming the rule.
Now we know that if and would is not good only in conditional if-clauses. This means that there are plenty of instances in which if and would are good. There are three frequent examples of if and modal being correct.
Politeness
Emphasis
Reported speech
In the first instance, it’s perfectly acceptable to say: I was wondering if you would listen to episode two of my podcast. The rule if and would doesn’t hold if I’m being polite. In terms of emphasis, no one in the anglophone world would bat an eyelid if you said: If you would just read this blog entry, you’d finally understand why the term rule is problematic in grammar. The rule if and would doesn’t hold. I’m using if and would to emphasise that I think something would be helpful. And finally: Aoife asked if you would listen to her explanation. Here we have an instance of reported speech. The past tense verb asked causes a backshift in the verb phrase in the reported clause making if and would grammatically acceptable in reported speech.
Rules are fixed and unchanging, but tendencies are flexible. Tendencies make room for learners to posit theories, investigate them and then use the balance of evidence to decide if a phenomenon is stable or whether it has an array of exceptions. I don’t think the term rule is helpful to anyone who has left middle-school. Help make one of my dreams come true and start telling your pupils/students that there are tendencies not rules.
