here’s a couple of things to munch on if you believe the teaching of SE to students is simply a matter of setting out and following rules.
Are both of these acceptable as SE?
What he did was go to the store.
What he did was to go to the store.
If there is a problem with one, what is it? If with both, what are the problems?
If with neither, how do you explain the variation?
Another one:
Karen Armstrong, one of the most erudite authors of our time, was speaking today about the three monotheistic religions associated with Jerusalem and she used the expression, “….between them….” referring to all three. The grammar mavens insist that the preposition should be “among”. So, how do we explain that this most erudite person who, should anyone in the world need to be chosen as a model of SE, would be the most likely chosen, uses “between? instead of “among’?
Did she “make a mistake’? Is she speaking a dialect? Is it OK for her to “break the rules” but not for the rest of us?
Just how do you explain it?