Natural vs. Standard, Descriptive vs. Proscriptive

This “Ask the Editor” clip from Merriam-Webster provides some great food for thought on natural versus prescriptive language, what is “correct,” and how a language authority figure (whether dictionary editor or foreign English teacher) can and should balance the two.

Remember that natural language is language as acquired and produced by humans’ natural cognitive abilities – i.e. what people actually say.  Prescriptive language imposes [often arbitrary] rules that do not exist in natural language, but it is the only kind of language that is acceptable in writing for all but the most informal/unorthodox/creative settings.