Good English And Bad By Bill Bryson

Having the insight as a former student and a present educator, Linda Christensen wrote about her views on the way English is taught to students in her essay“Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard?” Christensen

Naturally acquiring English comes with time and growth from an infant to a toddler to a child. Even after childhood, time is still spent refining and mastering Standard English skills. The English acquired when we are just learning to talk is incomplete, short, and often incorrect. We use simple words like "Up" to mean "Pick me up", and "Mo" for "I want more". When we collect more words for our vocabularies, we form incorrect sentences like "I goed with mommy". When we study Standard English, we are taught the correct forms. The correct usage of Standard English is an important step in ones English developement. Later on in life, Standard English is expected in environments such as interviews and the workplace. Without Standard English, one's

“Authority and American Usage” written by David Foster Wallace, poses an argument about the English language, and the different beliefs of its usage. This essay was written in defense of Bryan A. Garner’s, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage. His argument in “Authority and American Usage” is the difference the between prescriptivism perception and the descriptivism perception (Linguistic terms that could easily be made into smaller, more understandable words for people like me). Since the beginning of time, language has evolved. From biblical times, to Shakespearean times, to present day; the English language has been continuously changing since it’s birth and has no intentions on stopping.

Anthony Bourdain is a critically acclaimed chef, writer, and television star. He has appeared in shows such as “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations”, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”, and “Top Chef,” and published works such as “Don’t Eat Before Reading This”, “Medium Raw”, and “The Nasty Bits.” Trained at Vassar College the Culinary Institute of America, Bourdain is known for his love of food. In 2000, he wrote a book called Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and his first chapter is entitled “Food is Good”. In the chapter, Bourdain discusses his trip to France with his family, and how the trip transformed from hating the exotic food to loving it. Through his structure, descriptive language, and childhood stories,

What every American should know by Eric Liu thoroughly examines the issue of cultural literacy and its place in modern America. It takes on a convincing argument against E.D. Hirsch’s book on the same which included some 5000 things that he thought define cultural literacy and every American should know. Liu argues that America has changed over time, becoming more multicultural, and to capture the cultural literacy of the country, no one person should sit down and come up with what they think everyone else should know. Instead he suggests that in order to capture the view of the nation, every American should be involved in the making of the list. The most engaging part of this article is Liu’s idea that this new list that is crowd-sourced should always change according to the times. It should not be cast in stone because things in this day and age change really fast; what is a hit this month will be old news in the next one. This is what cultural literacy really is; keeping up with what is going on around you and being open to learn new things as they emerge. This can also be said of education; in order to stay educated in any field, you have to be in the know of in terms of new developments.

He feels a deep sense of guilt and pain because of the condition of society

Americans may often forget that immigrants are human beings too. A lot of them may not see all the risks that comes with trying to cross the border along with all the issues and problems immigrants face. In Aviva Chomsky’s “How immigration became illegal” she tries to get Americans to understand what it might feel like trying to come to America and really shows it from an immigrant perspective.

‘’Food Is Good’’ written by a chef, author, and food critic, Anthony Bourdain reflects on his childhood experiences and his passion for food. According to Bourdain, food has more meaning beyond being a substance. Food is filled with stories and power that can change a life. In the article, Bourdain reflected on his family vacation to Europe, which piqued his curiosity for food and started his passion.

Mike Bunn’s article, “How To Read Like a Writer”, simply does what the name implies: it is trying to encourage readers, students for the most part, to ‘read like a writer’. Bunn briefly reveals how he came acquainted with ‘reading like a writer’, and then goes on to explain to his audience how to ‘read like a writer’ themselves. From the opening sentence, to the closing statement, Bunn is encouraging students to analyze how a certain texts were written and why they were written that way. Bunn claims that by using this way of reading, you not only understand the text better, but you also become a better writer as you learn and develop the skills you analyze. Bunn is hoping that, after reading his article and adopting his methods, students will

From generations to generation grammar has been a big part of the English language. It has also changed since it first develops. From texting complete sentences like “See you later” to “C U l8r” or from using the spelling two and using the number form of it to replace that. Using slang word such as those can ruin a person’s reputation. In the stories of The Joy of Texting by Lynne Truss and I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why. by Kyle Wiens, both show some main similarities for it uses of correct grammar and why it should be that way. Grammar can make or break a person and could cost serious chances in life.

On the other hand, Aviva Chomsky clearly demonstrate that people look for a better future and head towards the opportunities, immigrants in U.S. are not fighting for a student loan or access to a free clinic, they are fighting for the opportunities that they are denied in their native country. The myth that “Immigrants only come here because they want to enjoy our higher standard of living” (Chomsky 121). It is a myth because immigrant must of the time they come here to work and build a better future for their families without enjoying the benefits that a U.S. citizen has. According to Chomsky states that “Poverty, lack of opportunity, and danger push people to leave; opportunity, availability of jobs, education, and safety pull people elsewhere” (Chomsky 122). The lack of jobs on their natives’ countries made them to look for a better future, also in most countries the violence is incredible high compared to the U.S. that the jobs are everywhere and their security system made the immigrants feel safe even though there trap in their cruel system. In addition, the medical system is better for example a Filipina Nurse states that “The thing I love about America hospitals is that we have enough supplies and equipment. In the Philippines we boiled our own rectal tubes, you use the catheters over and over. But, here you just use it once and dump it out” (Chomsky 125). Compared, to the Philippines their resources are limited most of the time, while the U.S. has all the basic

In James Baldwin's essay "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?" (1979) he focuses on language and the history behind it. Baldwin wants you to recognize not only the relationship between language and identity, but also the language between language and power. One important detail to remember when reading this essay is the time era it was written in. During this era, he faced obstacles not only for being black but because he was smart. Other text written by Baldwin include: "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Giovanni's Room," and "I Am Not Your Negro." As if being black and intelligent was not enough, Baldwin was also bisexual. He never failed to voice his pain and struggle though out his works. " The argument has nothing to do with language itself, but with the role of language. Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker." The intended audience of this essay is white people who deny Black English as a language.

This essay is about how English has changed over the years. The essay explores how speaking English has changed, like some people have different ways they speak English and some people have the accent. It has changed in the way we write. Now days in the English language there is over 1 million words. Back then there wasn’t much words. English has changed in text messaging. Like now we make the words shorter like lol that means laugh out loud. They have done that because it’s a quicker way. The first text message was in 1992. English also changed in schools and universities. It has changed by now we have technology to help us find information or search up for meaning on online dictionary. This essay examines how English has changed over the years. There are around 800 to 2000 word that are used to speak the English language.

The English language is no different than it was a century ago; however, it has been culturally changing over the past few decades. It is common knowledge to humans that each ethnicity has their own formal language they speak and that they perceive various styles of language in different manners. Language style is the choice of words used by a specific group of people when they speak. Although we have the ability to speak to everyone in the same proper way, naturally we, including myself, tend to change our speech depending on where we are, who we are associated with, and the situation we are encountered in.

Nowadays, the roles of English around the world have changed rapidly. English only served as the first or the second language of certain countries some years ago. Recently, English has a new role as a language which is used as a means of communication between people with different