3 Grammar Rules You Can Finally Break

You can stop feeling guilty about breaking those grammar rules your English teacher drilled into you. Linguist Arika Okrent just gave millions of people permission to relax.

In a TED-Ed video released today, Okrent tackles three grammar rules that have tormented students for generations. The kicker? They were invented by grammarians who wanted English to behave more like Latin, not because they made communication clearer.

The first rule on the chopping block: never split an infinitive. You know, putting a word between "to" and a verb, like "to boldly go." This rule came from 18th-century scholars who noticed Latin infinitives were single words that couldn't be split, so they decided English should follow suit.

But English isn't Latin. Okrent explains that splitting infinitives often makes sentences clearer and more natural. "To really understand" flows better than "really to understand" or "to understand really," which can sound awkward or change the meaning entirely.

The second outdated rule: don't end sentences with a preposition. This is another Latin hangover that creates more problems than it solves. Trying to avoid it leads to stuffy constructions like "About what are you talking?" instead of the perfectly clear "What are you talking about?"

The third rule Okrent liberates us from: never start a sentence with "and" or "but." This one likely came from teachers trying to help young students write more complex sentences. But professional writers have been starting sentences with conjunctions for centuries because it works.

Why This Inspires

Language is alive, and these revelations remind us that good communication beats arbitrary rules every time. Okrent's work shows that being understood matters more than following guidelines invented to make one language look like another.

The video has already racked up nearly 20,000 views in just six hours, with viewers celebrating their newfound freedom. Teachers and students alike are sharing the video, thrilled to let go of rules that made writing harder without making it better.

Grammar should serve us, not the other way around. And now millions of people can write more naturally, knowing they're not breaking real rules at all.