4 Grammar Myths Busted!

In the world of proofreading, grammar myths abound. These are typically presented as ‘rules’.

Overzealous pedants may therefore try to correct things that are not actually mistakes. But skilled editors and proofreaders will only make changes when they are necessary.

To help you avoid falling into these grammatical traps, I’ll dispel some of the most pervasive myths in this post.

1.  Never Split Infinitives

Telling people not to split infinitives is almost a cliché of pedantry.

But the rule against splitting infinitives is an invention of nineteenth-century grammarians based upon attempts to apply the rules of Latin to English. Modern grammarians do not stick by this rule at all.

In fact, sometimes, splitting an infinitive can boost clarity. For example, to stupidly go swimming clearly implies the decision is stupid since stupidly is right next to go.

In to go swimming stupidly, on the other hand, stupidly is closer to swimming than go, which might suggest that one is swimming in a stupid manner. So, even though this version avoids splitting the infinitive, it is less clear.

I’ll leave it up to you to picture what stupid swimming would involve.

2.  Never Start A Sentence With A Conjunction

You should not start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction (i.e. for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so). But this is not held to be confirmed by any authoritative sources.

In practice, starting a sentence with a conjunction is common. It can even help emphasise the connection between two statements or enhance the flow of prose. For example:

You have a lot of potential as a proofreader. But everyone needs to practise!

So, while starting every sentence with a conjunction would be stylistically poor, never using a coordinating conjunction at the start of a sentence could detract from the flow and clarity of writing.

3.  Never End Sentences With A Preposition

 This is another case of mistakenly basing English usage on Latin. And while ending a sentence with a preposition can sound awkward, it is usually fine.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about: not being talked about.

(Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Both clauses here end with the preposition about. To avoid this, we would need to rephrase to something like this:

There is only one thing in the world worse than being the subject of conversation, and that is not being the subject of conversation.

This is almost certainly a less memorable aphorism! And since the original makes perfect sense, changing the sentence to avoid ending on a preposition would be unhelpful.

4. Double Negatives Are Always Incorrect

The prohibition against double negatives is often overstated. You should correct non-standard double negatives (e.g. I saw nothing) if they are used in formal writing.

But these might be acceptable in less formal or literary contexts. And many double negatives are standard in most forms of writing, such as saying something is not uncommon to mean it is pretty typical:

It is not uncommon to find double negatives in a well-written document.

This usually depends on the document’s tone, so take care when correcting double negatives.


I hope you found this post about grammar myths useful and will no longer fear these all-too-often touted “rules”. The English language is a living, evolving thing that changes and develops as society changes.

If you have any writing dilemmas, I’m here to help. Get in touch.

About Kim

I'm Who Am I? I'm a woman of many talents and interests!! Of course, who isn't?! I've just had my 50th birthday, I live in England with one husband and two daughters. I own my own editing business (Brockway Gatehouse) while still working part-time as a Teaching Assistant at a local primary school.​ I love reading (obviously), listening to audiobooks, watching documentaries about the natural world and ancient history plus films of many genres.
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