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0 pointsumanwizard6y ago0 comments

Downvoted. There's no ISO standard for English, since language is a social phenomenon. "Correct" language is whatever the community of speakers uses in practice, not what someone claims is correct in a blog post (or even a book).

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4 comments · 1 top-level

simias6y ago· 3 in thread

And the linked article showed you that, in practice, "a shambles" is perfectly correct English. It is therefore correct in a descriptivist sense.

Beyond that prefixing your comment by "downvoted" is frankly silly and only serves to derail the conversation IMO.

umanwizardOP6y ago

"a shambles" is not used (or quite rarely used) in North America, in my experience. Which was what the OP was asking about.

You are of course right that "a shambles" is perfectly fine British English, but that's beside the point.

kps6y ago

I'm in North America and have never heard ‘in shambles’, without ‘a’. If I did, I'd probably take it as uneducated sociolect.

StuffedParrot6y ago

> And the linked article showed you that, in practice, "a shambles" is perfectly correct English.

I'd think "in practice" would mean evidence of contemporary usage.

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