Q-1 

Can you think of any ways or situations in which prescriptivism is unhelpful?

Before anything else let me provide you the meaning of the word prescriptivism.

Prescriptivism is the attitude or belief that one variety of a language is superior to others and
should be promoted as such. It is also known as linguistic prescriptivism and purism. An ardent
promoter of prescriptivism is called a prescriptivist or, informally, a stickler. A key aspect
of traditional grammar, prescriptivism is generally characterized by a concern for good, proper,
or correct usage. The term is the antonym (opposite) of descriptivism.

None of this is to say that Standard English is useless or unnecessary.

Standards are necessary, especially in writing, which may persist over huge lengths of time
and great swaths of distance. Standards facilitate ease of communication and eliminate
misunderstandings caused by instances of usage that contradict each other. The issue is not the
existence or the teaching of Standard English, but instead the presumption that Standard English
is “superior” to regional dialects that do not enjoy its glorified status: not in terms of “beauty,”
“clarity,” or “correctness.” Prescriptivism, in its quest to make ordinary people feel terrible about
the way they naturally communicate, often takes for granted that the language taught in primary
schools must be better, at least in some way, than the dialects which are passed over in its favor,
or worse, derided at its feet as “stupid,” “muddled,” and “wrong.” What needs to be accepted is
that people would not continue to speak and write in a way that was ineffective. Language
evolves to improve communication; the dialects we have now are the result of generations of
tinkering and modification; this is why they are uniquely suited to the expressive needs of the
people who use them.