Writing Tips
Rules are rules, but reasons are important, so it’s okay to ask why, how and how come.
You need to understand this from the get-go. Speaking and writing are based on usage. The meaning of a word can change, depending on how it’s used. Some of the time, the change begins as slang. Past generations thought being “cool” meant being emotionally distant. Being “hot” meant being angry or excitable. Today, “cool” means being “together” and “with it.” “Hot” means having sex appeal.
Profanity or bad language has evolved over many years, representing both the highest and lowest forms of human expression.
Like regional accents, there are variations in writing. Rhetorical modes can be as distinctive as speech, especially when conveyed within the parameters of a profession or discipline such as medicine, law, literature or the military. English classes teach grammar, structure, and vocabulary. Lessons might even bow to the various forms of narrative, persuasion, description and classification. But within each form, there are variables. What makes the difference is purpose and audience.
Non-verbal communication was probably generated long before speech, with the caveman pointing at a mastodon, gesturing toward a failing fire or grunting to soothe the baby.