As a longtime researcher and copyeditor for National Geographic, I’m someone who still enjoys thumbing through the tissue pages of Webster’s print dictionaries, and now here I am blogging, about grammar and punctuation and word usage. I wonder, do readers of blogs even care about commas, subject/verb agreement, and the difference between if and whether? Conversely, do those self-described grammar sticklers who write to complain about something they read in the printed pages of National Geographic ever venture onto the Web? (I suspect that one of my regular correspondents does not, because when I respond to him I need to dig out letterhead stationery from the far reaches of my desk drawer.)

As you may be able to tell from my bio, I haven't entered a formal grammar class in decades. I barely know what's being taught in schools these days. So I want to hear from you: How do you learn about grammar? Do you even care about punctuation and spelling? How do you determine what's correct? Are there rules you learned in school that you'd like to throw away? Do you wonder about rules you might never have learned?

I long ago discarded the rule about not starting sentences with and or but. I happily split infinitives (to boldly go) and end sentences with prepositions (What’s it made of?). At the moment I'm about to give in and use while for whereas, and since for because. On the other hand I'm standing firm on the distinction between which and that, and insist on adding also in not only . . . but also constructions.

Language morphs. Words evolve or become extinct. Grammar rules become forgotten or rewritten. I’m for a reasonable approach. A little change is good, but let’s not abandon all control. The most important thing is effective communication and clearly conveyed information.