If you remember Howdy Doody, then you remember when English grammar rules were pretty clear-cut: Don’t end a sentence with a preposition, don’t split an infinitive, and never, ever begin a sentence with a conjunction like and or but.

Times have changed, though. Some rules have changed or been relaxed, while others have not. The problem is, most people have no way of knowing what the latest thinking is. Those in the publishing business who keep abreast of these changes know for instance that the trend in comma usage is toward “open punctuation,” meaning fewer are used: She wore a short white pleated skirt, rather than the “comma intensive” style that would punctuate the sentence: She wore a short, white, pleated skirt.

However, you don’t have to be in the business to deplore the seemingly rapid decline of standards involving the King’s English. It’s difficult to read a newspaper, a best seller or even a textbook without finding a typo, usage error, or outright “fact” that indeed wasn’t fact-checked.

In fact the book “Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times” lists an astonishing number of errors over several decades at what is considered this country’s most esteemed newspaper. Many mistakes involve misspellings of well-known people, including such gaffes as spelling rock’s Boss as Bruce Springstein (that one has come across my copy desk a few times) and Jane Austen (misspelled as Austin at least 10 times, including once in a headline).

Hooray! It’s now OK to end a sentence in a preposition

Actually, it’s been OK to do that for some time, but many English teachers never knew that, having been schooled in the prescriptivist tradition of grammar, where rules were laid down in a rather rigid manner. Many of these rules were based on classic Greek and Latin. The more modern descriptivist practice describes language as it is actually used, while still acknowledging that some words are still considered nonstandard.

In Latin, prepositions are never separated from their objects. However, doing this in English often results in an awkward construction. Happiness is something we strive for sounds better than Happiness is something for which we strive. But good luck telling that to language purists (and many English teachers)!

A wonderful example of how absurd and pompous a literal interpretation of rules can be is often attributed to Winston Churchill. When Churchill became miffed at someone who reworded one of his sentences to avoid using a preposition at the end, he reportedly said, “That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put” (The exact quote varies from source to source. See the Web site www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html).

Even Shakespeare split an infinitive

A similarly awkward construction can result when we try to avoid “splitting” an infinitive. The origin of this rule also can be traced to Latin, where it is impossible to split an infinitive because Latin infinitives already contain the preposition to: donare means to give. Because many English grammarians were schooled in Latin, it is not difficult to see how this rule came into our own language. But although sometimes it is not necessary to split the infinitive, there are times when it just works better: To go boldly where no man has gone before. Of course, this famous line from “Star Trek” could be recast, but it would destroy the emphasis and rhythm. And how would you recast the sentence We expect class sizes to more than double in 10 years?

Regarding the Bard’s use of the split infinitive — Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, lists only one example: “Thy pity may deserve to pitied be” (Sonnet 142).

Know thy audience and the nuances of meaning that can arise by the placement of words when deciding whether to “split” or not.

And it’s OK to start a sentence with and or but

According to the Random House Web site column The Mavens’ Word of the Day, sentences beginning with and or but are found in English as early as the ninth century. Such sentences also can be found in the works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, the King James Bible and others. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the practice, but like perfume, it’s best when used sparingly.

Do you feel bad or badly about that?

The feel bad/badly issue is an example of usage that perplexes many. I remember when it was considered simply wrong to say “I feel badly about that” unless your sense of touch was compromised and you probably did feel badly.

But if you’re racked with guilt over exceeding your credit-card limit, many language experts, like Bryan Garner, prefer that you feel bad about that.

To complicate matters, Evan Jenkins, a recognized authority with the Columbia Journalism Review, writes in the Language Corner:

“Used to describe an emotional state, ‘feel badly’ is accepted by most good writers and sounds perfectly natural … — an exception that proves the rule governing linking (copulative) verbs, which generally require adjectives. To describe an upset stomach, ‘feel badly’ sounds less natural, though it has some scholarly support. But wherever the pain, ‘feel bad’ is technically unassailable and always safe” (www.cjr.org/tools/lc/).

“The always safe” admonition is a good rule of thumb. Again, the key to language is knowing your audience.

However, I disagree with Evan Jenkins, the author of the CJR’s Language Corner, because I don’t think the feel bad/badly distinction is that difficult to remember.

When CNN’s Soledad O’Brien commented on Oct. 31 that “New Orleans smelled badly,” it just grated on my language sensibilities. I’m pretty darn certain New Orleans smelled just plain bad.

Will someone just make a decision, please?

Do you go on-line or online? Do you use e-mail or email?

Is it website, web site, Website or Web site? These are relatively new words, and unfortunately there is no single correct answer, which can only add to the frustration of having too many choices and no clear-cut answers.

On-line seems to have evolved into online, and if you’re a betting person, put your money on the one-word, lowercase website.

“The Gregg Reference Manual,” a style and usage handbook popular with business professionals, has added guidelines on Internet terms. Its author, William A. Sabin, discusses these terms (italics mine), beginning with e-mail:

“Initially presented as electronic mail, the term evolved into E-mail, and conservative writers still write the word with a capital E. Writers on the cutting edge, who continually press for fewer hyphens and less capitalization, have already converted the term to email. Those currently occupying the middle ground treat the word as e-mail, but with the passage of time (two years? four years? six months?) email may become the standard form.”

Web site, Sabin writes (italics mine), “is starting to appear as one word (Website). Moreover, this word (as well as a few other Web compounds) is starting to lose the initial cap (website). However, for the sake of consistency, it is better to retain the capital W until a majority of these terms (such as the World Wide Web and the Web) lose their initial cap as well.”

As Norman Goldstein, editor of the “The Associated Press Stylebook,” points out, “AP made the choice of ‘Web site’ for what we thought were very good, language-based, reasons. Others are free to use their preference — as long as it is clear to a reader and consistent.”

Other language confusion results from our British heritage. Although both countries speak English, there are many differences in British usage and spelling. One common question is, is toward or towards correct? The answer is, British usage is towards ; the American preference is toward.

But some things haven’t changed

The rules of forming plurals have pretty much remained constant.

For example, the plural of the Smith family’s surname is Smiths, not Smith’s. Smith’s is a possessive and refers to something belonging to only one member of the Smith family. An easy way to remember this is the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses.”

There are a few instances where plurals are formed with an apostrophe, but the general rule is plurals are formed with an s or es: boy/boys, church/churches (allowing for the many exceptions like mouse/mice, man/men).

Suffice it to say, these very few exceptions include phrases like Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Otherwise, i’s would look like the word is, and confusion would result.

A pet peeve of many grammar activists is the misuse of it’s and its. These homophones (words pronounced the same) cannot be used interchangeably. It’s is a contraction for it is or it has. The apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter(s). Examples: “It’s [it has] been a long time since we’ve talked.” “It’s [it is] a long walk to the beach from here.” Its is an adjective that shows possession; for example, “The dog wagged its tail.”

It’s bad enough when mistakes appear in print, but it’s even worse when they’re carved in stone, as is the following inscription on a Long Branch memorial to fallen firefighters: “This Memorial is dedicated/to those who have made/the ultimate sacrifice/while in the line of duty/protecting their community/it’s (sic) citizens and their fellow fighters.”

And some things have changed...

Acronyms vs. initialisms — Letters that stand for organizations, agencies, initiatives, etc., are often referred to as acronyms, when in fact most are initialisms. Acronyms can be pronounced as a word; for example, UNICEF, NASA, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Abbreviated names such as FBI and IRS are actually initialisms because they are pronounced letter by letter. Some styles, like the one created by The New York Times, will use periods after each letter: F.B.I.

Sometimes acronyms become so widely known that they enter the language as words in their own right: scuba was originally an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Another little-known but important change is the SAT no longer stands for Scholastic Aptitude Test or Scholastic Assessment Test. The dreaded test used by college admissions committees was established in 1926 and administered by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton in 1948 as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, but it became known as the initialism S-A-T over the years. In 1993 the ETS changed the name to Scholastic Assessment Test. Four years later, the ETS decided that the name of the test was simply the SAT, period. Not a bad decision because that’s what everyone called it anyway.

Another change many people over a certain age have difficulty accepting is that it is not always necessary to use a comma after a short prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence: In 1954 Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans. But think about the confusion in the following example if there were no comma after the introductory prepositional phrase:

In short, men wearing toupees shouldn’t go wind surfing.

If you’ve gotten this far reading this column, take a bow. You are one of the waning number of people who actually give a hoot about our language and how it is evolving. Unfortunately, keeping up is a daunting task and there are no simple answers anymore.

Those of us in the business have the luxury, and obligation, of accessing various language authorities on these matters. Some of my favorite reference books are “The Chicago Manual of Style,” considered by many as the bible of the book-publishing world; and “The Associated Press Stylebook,” which many newspapers follow, including this one. Other helpful references are the “Copy Editor” newsletter, available by subscription and my main source of keeping up-to-date (www.copyeditor.com); Strunk & White’s “Elements of Style” (an inexpensive must for every college freshman taking English 101); and “Garner’s Modern America Usage” by Bryan A. Garner, who deals with grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, and who also publicly embarrasses those unfortunate enough to have erred in print by citing examples of incorrect usage and grammar that have appeared in various newspaper and magazine publications. Another good reference book is “Lapsing Into a Comma” by Bill Walsh.

However, I have to admit that after an hour or so of reading long, detailed explanations for rules and of course the exceptions to the rules, my head starts to spin, and I can understand why so many people, when they hear about my background and fascination with languages, invariably tell me, “I always hated English class!”

Adele Young is the news editor and head of the copy desk at Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes weekly newspapers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties.