This thread has again reminded me of the questions that puzzle me about prescriptivism. Especially, who gets to make the rules, and who decides when the rules are in force and when they change? Using this specfici thread as an example, what about "near"? Thanks to of troy, I've learned that this is (or was) a comparative itself. Since no prescriptivist today would sanction "greenerer" or "tallerer", why allow "nearer"? Without a rule-making body like the risible Académie française, how are the parameters of prescriptivism defined? When did "nearer" cease being an unacceptable comparative of a comparative? Who gets to say not only whether something is "right" or "wrong", but more interestingly, why, and for what period of time?

noho ora mai
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