My linguist friend Geoffrey Pullum has a new book out, The Truth about English Grammar.
Holy shit, the truth? I might not be able to handle it.
I asked Geoff where my traditional grammar indoctrination had gone wrong. “All of it,” he stipulated. “For example, remember how your teachers taught you: a noun is a person, place, or thing?”
Yes, yes, that was definitely on the grade school quiz.
“But what about a word like absence?” Geoff asked. “It is none of those three! Rubbish!”