Lost In America Summary

“Who’s to say which changes are natural and good and which are corruptions? And when Bryan Garner or E. Ward Gilman do in fact presume to say, why should we believe them? These sorts of questions are not new, but they do now have a certain urgency. America is in the midst of a protracted Crisis of Authority in matters of language. In brief, the same sorts of political upheavals that produced

“Authority and American Usage,” an interesting essay written by the brilliant and quick-witted David Foster Wallace, presents an argument on different ways of understanding the ever-changing American usage in the English language. Keeping up with the English language in America is like chasing your new, untrained puppy down the street. Tiring and basically impossible to get a hold of. Over the past centuries, the English language has evolved so much, that if you took a person from the 13th century and threw them in the middle of New York City in 2013, it would be as if two different languages were being spoken.

As society begins to change so do other aspects that are within that particular society. Within the articles “Why Good English is Good for You” by John Simon, “Do You Speak American” by Robert MacNeil, and “Lost in America” by Douglas McGrey, each author gives their own insight as to how social changes have impacted the language within America, as well as the implications of those changes. While they each argue different views on how those implications have benefitted or hindered the language, they all agree on the fact that the language is ever-changing.

In the article, “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray informs politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials that language throughout the world is evolving and Americans need to step up their game in global communications. Along with informing politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials he also criticizes how the American education systems are ran. McGray goes into detail about how Americans are not educated properly on foreign culture and language throughout their academic career. This lack of familiarity proves that Americans are behind in the education system. Overall, McGray is trying to persuade his intended audience that as American citizens, we should be more open-minded and extend our education in order to keep up in global affairs. With the effective use of statistics, anecdotes, metaphors, and scholarly diction, McGray builds up his credibility when persuading politicians, education administrators, and school-board officials that the education systems in America needs to avoid isolationism in order to be successful globally.

Douglas McGray discusses different ways that being more cultivated could benefit the United States in his article, “Lost in America” in an attempt to convince education officials to incorporate more foreign language and history classes into their curriculums. In the article he explains the different way the United States has neglected foreign language, and how they can benefit from investing money and time into foreign language. Several examples are presented showing the actual importance of language diminishing in the United States education system. McGray wants the education officials to realize that foreign language should be valued more if the U.S. wants to have better access to overseas opportunities. In the article “Lost in America” by Douglas McGray the effective use of satire, irony,

In George Orwell’s essay, “Politics And The English Language” Orwell discusses how the English language is changing negatively. His purpose is to show how modern writers, especially in politics, has become bogged down with the poor use of language. Orwell does this by using examples, critiques, and inductive reasoning. The author also has a serious tone that shows what he is talking about is very important to him and should be to his audience.

Social workers fulfill a unique role in policy creation because that is a time for them to advocate for the oppressed or individuals who are attempting to cope with the stresses of everyday life. Most social workers have the opportunity to work hands on in the field with clients during some point in their career, and during that time they are able to get a clear understanding of the problem the client is experiencing. In The Other America, Harrington makes mention of the poor and how they lost their connections to the world; that clearly depicts the importance of the social workers’ involvement with the creation of policy (Harrington, 1962). Since those living in poverty have been referred to as “politically invisible,” social workers are

In the book Rereading America, written by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, the introduction of the book discusses how college students face different situations and have more control with one’s own actions. College typically have more workload and sometimes, that much work could impact a student’s quality of work. Students may rethink about their old habits and would have to readjust them to fit this new college life to become a critical thinker. In order to think critically, one must learn different perspectives and understand them. This is difficult because it requires a person to think deeply about things they wouldn’t previously think about and to see the world in multiple viewpoints.

Upon my arrival in the U.S., I faced a cultural shock. Although I had grown up speaking English, I discovered that American English, colloquial expressions, idioms and literature were all different than what I

The series Untold America: Divided Chicago delves into the issues surrounding urban poverty in Chicago. It showcases various community members from public school students, to school district administrators, and other community organizers. Overall, it offers a credible and realistic analysis of some of the problems in Chicago and also provides insight on the ongoing work to alleviate and solve them.

United States of America, small in history but large in diversity continues to face new challenges with language as time continues to turn. In the documentary “Do You Speak American?” Robert MacNeil analyzes the English language and reveals many dialects that culturally defines us. Regional dialect is one of the many strongholds of all cultures and now it has reached its’ zenith and today it is slowly declining because it does not possess the human nature of advancement. Optimistically, it allows people to learn how to cooperate with each other. In order to advance and adopt a person has to change; I believe that the acceptance of cultural adaptations, diversity, and industrialization can prove that the decline of speech does not cause a

Wallraff is concerned about the future of the English language and has started assuming what would happen if English became the global language. She further forecasted the situations that may occur if everyone started speaking English. The work, research and time Ms. Wallraff has devoted to the article demonstrate her attitude and concern about the English language and its future. The article that she has written basically targets people of new generation X who are firm believer of English being a Global language ignoring the fact that other languages are outnumbering English. Besides targeting the younger generation, the article is also targeting those for whom English is not primary

MacNeil argues in USA Today that dialects and local accents are not destroying the English language to an audience of middle-class, educated (those with at least a high school diploma or more) people through the use of appeal to expert opinions, anecdotes, and illustrations effectively to an extent as they can understand it and relate to MacNeil, but can also discredit him as he frequently goes to biased expert opinions.

(81) An oral dialect cannot be transposed directly into a standard written language. The conversations of oral dialects evolved from using language in face-to-face situations where as written languages, must be adapted to an anonymous situations in which the writer cannot be sure who the reader will be. “ Oral dialects lack the vocabulary needed to serve the new economic, scientific, and administrative functions of the nation”(82). “Because language making has been studied more than culture making, the historical process of creating a national culture is perhaps less well understood.” A nations language can be regarded as a part of its culture, or conversely, its culture can be regarded as the totality of its language.(83). Americans need to learn not just the grammar of their language but also their national vocabulary. For nation builders, fixing the vocabulary of a national culture is analogous to fixing a standard grammar, spelling, and

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,