Convention — English definition
Defined in 2 courses:
- A shared, agreed-upon norm for punctuation, capitalization, and spelling that readers expect — a matter of accepted usage rather than a law of nature. (English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory)
- An agreed-upon norm for how language is used — a shared expectation among speakers and writers, not a law of nature, which is why it can shift over time. (English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory)
Where it is taught
- Conventions & Usage — Language, Style & Conventions, English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory, Grade 11
- Language Change & Variation — Language, Style & Conventions, English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory, Grade 11
In use
A convention is exactly that — a shared agreement among writers and readers, not a law of physics — and its quiet power is that readers rely on it without noticing.
Conventions & Usage
So the mature stance, and the one the grade-11 standard names directly, is this: usage is a matter of convention, it changes over time, and it is genuinely contested.
Language Change & Variation
Questions using convention
Problem 1
When linguists say that 'usage is a matter of convention,' they mean that language rules are…
- shared agreements among speakers that can change over time
- invented by a single official academy that controls English
- unimportant and safe to ignore in all writing
- fixed laws of nature that never change
Answer and explanation
shared agreements among speakers that can change over time
A convention is an agreed-upon norm among speakers, not a natural law — which is why usage shifts over time. English has no official academy, and conventions still matter greatly for real audiences.
Taught alongside
- restrictive vs. nonrestrictive clause
- em dash
- compound modifier
- dialect
- Standard English
- prescriptivism vs. descriptivism