What is Standard English?

Source: Blogger

http://funnysmsweb.blogspot.com

Date accessed: 1/25/15

Throughout the first chapter of Grammar Alive! we learned a lot about how grammar is often forgotten and untaught, it's easily spoken but not easily written, and that even in the work-world it is forgotten. There is a certain tension between the “standard english” grammar and the home language that isn't easily bridged, especially because it's not easy to teach the difference between the two in a classroom setting. Grammar is situation and there are tons of different varieties and dialects; there is no right or wrong English [two closely connected sentences joined by a semi-colon]. This was hard for me to grasp at first, until I realized that maybe my thoughts coming into this topic were different than others. In my home, we speak sort of a German-English language that calls for certain grammar differences than “standard English” or “standard German.” We often times leave out “nonsense” words such as “is” or “the” and just stick to the needed-to-make-sense-words that are crucial to the meaning of the sentence [forming original compound words with the use of hyphens]. If we can't think of a word in English, the German word replaces it fine, but isn't necessarily grammatically correct in either standard language. But aside from the mixed-language my family speaks at home, I was taught that this is not how we speak outside the house. It was very clear to me-as taught by my parents- that it was inappropriate to use anything other than this “standard English” we spoke and wrote in school [use of the parenthetical dash to emphasize an important point].

The topic of at-home language and the idea of code-switching was brought up in chapter 2 of Grammar Alive! We learned about African American grammar and how that language uses possession in a different way than standard English does. It's important to note the difference between these situational grammar languages and to notice that neither is the correct way, they're just different. My understanding of teaching and learning grammar has always been a by-the-book type of system; when I think back to learning grammar, I remember a lot of worksheets, sentence practices, and editing of other student's sentences [two closely connected sentences joined by a semi-colon]. After reading for this class, it has come to my attention that I have been coming about grammar in all the wrong ways...Grammar isn't right or wrong, it's situational [use of ellipses to create a pause or hesitation to emphasize a point]. The reading by Christensen really related to the idea of situational grammar. She didn't want to be seen as lesser, so she used different words in place of words that she couldn't pronounce correctly. She code-switched in order to not show she had a different at-home grammar language. The teacher in Christensen's story was using a one-size fits all lesson by requesting that each child says the same word correctly. What she failed to recognize was the different languages each student brings to the classroom. In this case, Christensen couldn't speak the word and was made fun of because the children in the class expected standard English.

I incorporated the semi-colon pattern in my post because it is one I struggle with mostly. I wrote my post, in fact, and had to go back and try to squeeze one in because semi-colons just don't come naturally to me. I think the sentence I put it in for the use of the semi-colon (my understanding of teaching grammar has always been a by-the-book type of system; when I think back to learning grammar, I remember a lot of worksheets, sentence practices, and editing of other student's sentences) works better without the semi-colon, but still works just as well with it. I'd like to get more familiar with where they are needed and where they aren't. I used the parenthetical dash for my first time in this blog post. I'm still not savvy with them, but I tried in the sentence: “It was very clear to me-as taught by my parents- that it was inappropriate to use anything other than this “standard English” we spoke and wrote in school.”