How To Use Prescriptive In A Sentence

Only in the 1680s was any serious attempt made to challenge the prescriptive rights of rural and urban elites to exercise power.
I do not intend to turn this into a prescriptive handbook.
How immensely impertinent is the prejudice that forbids so natural a use of money! why should the better half of a man's actions be always under the dominion of some prescriptive slavery; 'Tis hideous to think of. Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth
The Puritan paradox, to name it such, was that a rigorous defense of the absoluteness of Scripture as an objective, prescriptive code, could not be made without a critical analysis of the contents of Scripture itself.
It was not possible to be prescriptive about the nature of the benefits which a school had to provide to the poor nor the extent of them. Times, Sunday Times

I'm generally supportive of Higgs, but I don't like the prescriptive nature of it.
I can see how the functional-notional approach can be seen as prescriptive, in the sense of several decontextualised culturally specific sentences “this is how we apologise, this is how we complain etc.” S is for “Strategies” « An A-Z of ELT
As elsewhere in the book these suggestions are not intended to be prescriptive but, rather, a stimulus for ideas.
In practice, dictionaries take a middle course between wholehearted descriptivism and prescriptive edicts.
self-evident," since become awkward of acceptance, were ever thus pettifogged out of the path, and fundamental principles have in this way prescriptively been tampered with. "Imperialism" and "The Tracks of Our Forefathers"
If accounting were ‘only accounting,’ then an organization could not make predictive and prescriptive changes to its functions based on this institutional retrospection, which it surely needs to do.
To give her her due, the headmistress wasn't too keen on league tables herself and has spoken out against government prescriptiveness.
While this fact may be more descriptive than prescriptive, it is still a fact worth considering. Christianity Today
But here we run up against the difficulty that this formulation appears to derive a prescriptive conclusion from two factual premisses.
We are, after all, performing a descriptive and not a prescriptive exercise when we undertake discourse analysis.
Yet, no one would suggest that by using it the public might acquire prescriptive rights and that the land might become a town green.
Did it require prescriptive EU legislation, ie a foreign diktat, to stop this chucklesome fibbery, no of course it did not. Adolf Hitler Was Right.... (see context )
I can only think that, trapped between his automatic deference to prescriptive ukases and a cloudy realization that if everybody is using words in an illogical way usage must trump logic, he squares the circle by means of this oxymoron.
I think the thing that most worried me about this text was its prescriptiveness.
It is a descriptive fact that some people do eat peas with a knife, just as many speakers of English do not follow the rules of prescriptive grammars.
This is intended to be less prescriptive than present standards. Times, Sunday Times
But an overly prescriptive World Cup runs against the grain. Times, Sunday Times
Morality and ethics consist of prescriptive statements about how one ought to behave; they do not purport to be descriptive accounts of actual historical behaviour.
English dictionaries are not prescriptive but report on current usage. Times, Sunday Times
They are not intended to be all-inclusive, exclusive or prescriptive; rather a party's adoption of these Guidelines, or variants thereof, should be determined based on that party's own circumstances.
There's been an interesting discussion about it on one of the bloggers' listservs, and it seems that many of us agree that it's all too easy to cross the fine line between age recommendations and prescriptiveness or even censorship. Archive 2008-06-01
The 2002 Act was highly prescriptive. Times, Sunday Times
We need a curriculum that is less prescriptive about how to teach, and clearer about what should be examined. Times, Sunday Times
And it will certainly undermine the Government's case should it seek a more prescriptive approach in future. Times, Sunday Times
The capability of non - prescriptive, nonlinear document traversal is always added by the software.
Firstly, we believe it is wrong to be too prescriptive about the choice of registry because registries for trials are in an early stage of development.
According to Ohio case law, the minimum period required to acquire a prescriptive easement is 21 years.
Gough said the School's series was "an opportunity to turn self-help on its head, " promising: "They won't be didactic, prescriptive books.
But as a prescriptive call for eloquence and discursiveness, I wonder. “The Cure of Poetry in an Age of Prose” : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation
It's an uphill battle to get them comfortable with the notion that ‘rightness’ is situational and that it is possible to be both descriptive and prescriptive.
There are huge generalizations about how writers develop and age; and for all his moral clarity about totalitarian language, his own prescriptiveness is sometimes severe, sometimes woolly. Such, Such Was Eric Blair
State-of-the-art consumer desirables, content or tools, are accompanied with a prescriptive narrative of technological determinism; Buy now to think and act faster, cheaper, clearer and stronger.
This has become especially desirable as universities and employers demand increasingly prescriptive grades. Times, Sunday Times
The Dairy Industry Act is rigid and prescriptive, and it is time indeed for a revamp.
But he sees his task as descriptive more than prescriptive. Times, Sunday Times
The 2002 Act was highly prescriptive. Times, Sunday Times
In practice, dictionaries take a middle course between wholehearted descriptivism and prescriptive edicts. They advise when a form is controversial, or a word is going out of use, or is shifting its sense.
prescriptive grammar is concerned with norms of or rules for correct usage
But comprehensive data collection ran ahead of a capacity for meaningful analysis, and prescriptive content was disappointing.
These kinds of prescriptive rules are part of a very outdated conception of grammar which, surprisingly, even in expert circles, is very much alive and well.
The good-ought tie-up rests on an ambiguity in the concept of ought, which may be interpreted either in a commendatory sense or in a prescriptive sense. How to Kill a Missionary
In the past there has been a tendency for government programmes to be highly prescriptive or bureaucratic. Times, Sunday Times
Frege's main point in all this is that whereas all prescriptive laws can be categorized as ˜laws of thought™ on the basis that they tell what we ought to think, only one kind of descriptive laws deserves to be come under the same heading: the set of psychological descriptive laws (ibid.). Psychologism
Nor, given the prescriptive nature of franchise specifications, did it make unrealistic promises. Times, Sunday Times
It was not possible to be prescriptive about the nature of the benefits which a school had to provide to the poor nor the extent of them. Times, Sunday Times
The traditional Kiwi attitude towards building one's own home, farm building, or backyard shed is compromised by the very prescriptive nature of this bill.
Obviously it's not prescriptive, but for some artists it has proved very fruitful. Times, Sunday Times
If the Treasury thinks it is worth putting up on its website a paper forecasting global cooling, why is the British government adopting policies, including green taxes and intrusive lifestyle prescriptiveness, to deal with precisely the opposite eventuality? On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
The original schedule 2 in the bill - which has now been superseded - was very much more prescriptive and clear about what needed to be enforced and what was acceptable and unacceptable.
CALIFORNIA GROWS OUT OF CONTROL: California has always relied on growth as the prescriptive for its budget problems. Falling On Hard Times: Four States Of Siege
A cursory review of the language in these regulations from state to state reveals noticeable differences in the wording, from very prescriptive language to very broad guidelines.
That's why we don't give out prescriptive drug information or glamorize its use.
The title chapter of this book is unusual for its tone of prescriptiveness; Mr. Phillips becomes with this book a prophet of originality. Adam Phillips' Prescription: Bring Up Brilliant Babies
He or she probably has the idea that to the extent that prescriptive rules are not followed, the language is somehow deteriorating.
In both cases, the courts completely dismissed the plaintiffs' prescriptive rights arguments.
There was a fear that scopes of practice would be too narrow and prescriptive, but that has never been the intention of scopes of practice.
direct primary legislation is largely permissive rather than prescriptive
The psychologists insist, however, that they are not being prescriptive.
Political theories are "descriptive, prescriptive and justificatory". Politics, Planning and the State
A prescriptive and legitimate custom overcomes the law.
Most teachers think the government's guidelines on homework are too prescriptive.
The psychologists insist, however, that they are not being prescriptive.
The same number of muggers would leap out of the dark if everyone conformed overnight to every prescriptive rule ever written.
The lesson here is that you actually need to have a pretty good control of descriptive grammar before you can intelligently engage in prescriptive grammar.
Economics, on this showing, has more practical use as ideology than as prescriptive science.
One private sector insider said: ‘Their demands were very very prescriptive.’
Of these, the most important are prescriptive rights. Times, Sunday Times
Tory Euro-MPs say over-prescriptive details will make it more expensive for manufacturers to comply with the worthy goal of improving bus conditions for disabled people.
Political theories are "descriptive, prescriptive and justificatory". Politics, Planning and the State
The more parents are led to believe that they need this kind of prescriptive advice about how to relate to their children, the more stilted and insecure they are going to become in everyday interactions with their kids.
Do you think it was overly prescriptive? Exploring language (6th edn)
Efforts to provide a substantive definition of crime have suffered and continue to suffer from inconsistencies between descriptive and prescriptive points of view. The Politics of Redress - crime, punishment and penal abolition
And it will certainly undermine the Government's case should it seek a more prescriptive approach in future. Times, Sunday Times
It is very prescriptive and outlined how much time to spend on certain areas as well as which words to teach each week.
However, over the past 250 years or so, prescriptive grammarians have privileged the etymology of the word tween - 'two', though often failing to live up to their own prescriptions. On between each
These authors warn against a prescriptive approach, or client stereotyping.
Prescriptive grammarians routinely disparage innovative usages as introducing ambiguities.
This is despite the fact that the idea of the grief process has little scientific backing and could be called prescriptive rather than descriptive. Times, Sunday Times
Such prescriptiveness probably reached its peak in regulations for the launch of digital TV.
The earlier, prescriptive sense of the term continues to be used, but the later, more neutral sense is common among scholars of language.
Obviously it's not prescriptive, but for some artists it has proved very fruitful. Times, Sunday Times
We need a curriculum that is less prescriptive about how to teach, and clearer about what should be examined. Times, Sunday Times
‘If the Treasury thinks it is worth putting up on its website a paper forecasting global cooling, why is the British government adopting policies, including green taxes and intrusive lifestyle prescriptiveness, to deal with precisely the opposite eventuality?’ On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
So, in a sentence like: 'Me and Jenny went to the market', technically you wouldn't have to say 'Jenny and I went to the market', as is common prescriptive usage, because the 'and' forms a compound subject phrase beholden only to itself. Hopefully...
A prescriptive list of buildings meriting destruction, however, is simply philistine.
This is intended to be less prescriptive than present standards. Times, Sunday Times
In the past there has been a tendency for government programmes to be highly prescriptive or bureaucratic. Times, Sunday Times
A prescriptive and legitimate custom overcomes the law.
In reality, therefore, there is not a conflict between descriptive and prescriptive grammar and lexicography, but rather a difference of mission.
His writings provided a schematic and prescriptive interpretation of Napoleonic operations, an approach well suited to West Point's engineering emphasis.
Finally, it is this descriptiveness versus prescriptiveness that results in confusion in the marketplace as different consumers have different views of the role of the guidelines. Archive 2009-09-01
Despite disclaimers by authors that their checklists should be viewed as being ‘reflective rather than constitutive of good research,’ there is evidence that checklists are sometimes being used prescriptively.
Genres are often seen prescriptively as a means of interpellating the subject into existing norms and hierarchies.
Obviously it's not prescriptive, but for some artists it has proved very fruitful. Times, Sunday Times
But in many cases so-called ‘simplification’ often requires more extensive clarification that can lead to more detailed and prescriptive regulation.
Diets are prescriptive, like convent fasts - so much of this, so little of that.
The wall the vessel is moored to has nothing to do with this matter, and furthermore no prescriptive rights apply.
This bill is also prescriptive about whom the authority is required to consult.
For example, both Scalia and Rehnquist misused the word “hypothecate,” apparently confusing it with the near homonym “hypothesize,” which, admittedly, a dictionary or two will give as a secondary definition (in my view, this merely a reification of the sound-alike confusion and reflects the descriptive (as opposed to prescriptive) philosophy of the editor). Business, Law, Economics & Society
“Normative” refers to the deontological prescriptive aspect of behavior, to ought-to statements, as distinct from positive, “are” statements. THE MORAL DIMENSION
Clearly, DFW embodies both a psychological and socialogical pedagogical paradigm which transcends prescriptive hierarchical linguistics to achieve self-abnegative egalitarianism without sacrificing ego, polysyllabism, power or pseudonymity. The Trials and Tribulations of Teaching
Servitudes of this character could be extinguished by the consolidation of ownership of both servient and dominant estate in the same owner, and by remission or release; by nonuser for the prescriptive period, and by the destruction of the dominant or servient estate. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy
That was arguably too prescriptive and pedagogic with insufficient human interest.
The product's ethos is to produce prescriptive, problem-solving haircare.
In practice, the so-called multicultural agenda, when it is adopted by the state, turns into a very, very prescriptive and limiting set of choices with all sorts of connotations which I might not like.
But an overly prescriptive World Cup runs against the grain. Times, Sunday Times
While this fact may be more descriptive than prescriptive, it is still a fact worth considering. Christianity Today
I would be very concerned about whether or not something really is mentoring if you have prescriptive outcomes.
Part One includes extracts from traditional prescriptive texts, portrayals of the widow in classical literature as well as 19th and 20th Century documents.
But comprehensive data collection ran ahead of a capacity for meaningful analysis, and prescriptive content was disappointing.
Moving even farther away from structural priorities, Russell Jacoby criticizes “blueprint” utopias for their authoritarian prescriptiveness and recovers an “iconoclastic” utopia tradition rooted in Romantic philosophies and Jewish mysticism and exemplified by Ernst Bloch. Utopianism and Joanna Baillie: A Preface to Converging Revolutions
That was arguably too prescriptive and pedagogic with insufficient human interest.
In explaining the succession which is worked out between buyer and seller for the purpose of creating a prescriptive right, such as a right of way over neighboring land to the land bought and sold, it was shown that one who, instead of purchasing the land, had wrongfully possessed himself of it by force, would not be treated as a successor, and would get no benefit from the previous use of the way by his disseisee. The Common Law
And thus what seems an utterly prescriptive system of breathing, movement, and mind control becomes the vehicle for personal interpretation after all.
The lesson here is that you actually need to have a pretty good control of descriptive grammar before you can intelligently engage in prescriptive grammar.
Of these, the most important are prescriptive rights. Times, Sunday Times
They believe there are a number of disadvantages to a prescriptive approach that will need to be addressed in the Gulf of Mexico, not least that it encourages a box-ticking mentality. Deep Water, Deep Trouble
But he sees his task as descriptive more than prescriptive. Times, Sunday Times
We are, after all, performing a descriptive and not a prescriptive exercise when we undertake discourse analysis.
Efforts to provide a substantive definition of crime have suffered and continue to suffer from inconsistencies between descriptive and prescriptive points of view. The Politics of Redress - crime, punishment and penal abolition
Nor, given the prescriptive nature of franchise specifications, did it make unrealistic promises. Times, Sunday Times
Ethical obligations are not about prescriptive rules and regulation nor complying with the law.
Rank and file members of both parties want to undo NCLB's prescriptiveness around accountability -- but don't want to "cut and run" either. Michael J. Petrilli: Republicans for Education Reform
Most of these things are prescriptive in some broad sense, no? — just not peevishly and snarkily so. Robert Hartwell Fiske strikes me as a prig and a bully « Motivated Grammar
‘In the past, there were prescriptive rules and lots of checking up,’ Murray said.
Mumford, in any case, does not uniformly diabolize prescriptive technologies.
Yet precisely because it is neither simply prescriptive nor descriptive, neither purely constative nor performative, heil risks rendering the Patriot Acts: The Political Language of Henrich von Kleist
Britain's drinking problem is the latest in a list of excuses for prescriptive limitations on society.
Chomsky's goal was not to write a prescriptive grammar book.
In answering these questions, it is important to recall the distinction made earlier between prescriptive and descriptive grammar.
In the past there has been a tendency for government programmes to be highly prescriptive or bureaucratic. Times, Sunday Times
A four-block special district can have very prescriptive rules that would be inappropriate for an entire city.
This has become especially desirable as universities and employers demand increasingly prescriptive grades. Times, Sunday Times
The roots of this tradition lie with the western, heterosexual androcentric values of the 19th century prescriptive grammar movement.
Do you think it was overly prescriptive? Exploring language (6th edn)
In time, both prescriptive and normative qualities were ascribed to classical decision theory.
In the medieval trivium, however, grammar did not include the study of morphology and syntax; it was what would now be called prescriptive grammar. Literature: the very idea
It's difficult to be prescriptive, and it's ultimately for the Ukrainians, we hope, to resolve this, and above all, peacefully.
As a work of prescriptive literature, Spiritual Midwifery framed the choice in unambiguous terms, quoting one Farm "lady" as saying that she found feminist demands for access to male-dominated careers incomprehensible, since, in her experience, breastfeeding her baby was "heavier than being a corporation president. Manhood in the Age of Aquarius: Masculinity in Two Countercultural Communities, 196583
This is despite the fact that the idea of the grief process has little scientific backing and could be called prescriptive rather than descriptive. Times, Sunday Times
His is an elusive quest for self despite prescriptive notions of manhood and sexual identity.
We now understand better what it is we need, and this way I think we can be more prescriptive and deliver better value for money.
He seems, first of all, to misunderstand that dictionaries of the English language are descriptive, not prescriptive.

How To Use Prescriptive In A Sentence

Report a problem

Please indicate a type of error

Additional information (optional):