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Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
Who cares about the rule books? These publications are meant to communicate a specific idea, not be published in someone's journal or submitted for grades.
Making the rule book grammatically correct would probably increase it's size by 50% and confuse more than help.
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I agree with your first thought and disagree with your second. The rules of language syntax and punctuation are in place to make communication clear, not to give the school marm a reason to rap the knuckles of little Johnny. Grammar is less important than syntax and punctuation (IMO) considering strictly clarity of communication. Poor grammar just gives an impression of illiteracy or laziness.
A rule book should be clearly written (punctuation, sentence structure, and syntax) in order to achieve its main objective - clear communication of the rules.
A rule book should use proper grammar to achieve a secondary objective - establish its authoritative position.
Who cares what grade it would get in 5th grade English class; but we should all care if it does not accomplish its primary purpose of clearly communicating the rules of the game.
A good editor would improve the ASA book. However, it is not THAT bad to begin with. And, many of the problems it does have are most likely the result of continued revision year after year.
BTW, the college grads that can't write started out as HS grads that couldn't write.