Reply from Sherry: You’ve hit on a very important point: Many people believe that we should, as you put it, acquiesce to the common herd’s usage despite the logic. This approach, in too many instances, seems to be reflected in modern dictionaries. The thinking seems to be that if it’s used often enough, even if it’s a true grammar error, then we should no longer call it an error but, rather, an alternative, standard meaning or usage. While language does, of course, evolve, there should be a reason and a logic for the evolution, which, for me, never includes standardizing a mistake.

Thanks for writing!