In the article "Good English and Bad" by Bill Bryson, the English language/usage and its complexities are explored, and discussed in regards to its Latin background. Bryson also gives much information about the history of the English language and explains how many people made proposals due to the desire to regulate English.
Bryson argues that there really is no "basis" for the English language and that, as a free language, the "rules" are not exactly 100% set in stone because no one has exactly made them. He claims that the "rules" are just opinions and beliefs of people from the past, which can then be in a way overlooked. Bryson's article explains the disagreements and arguments that people had and still have about usage in the English language. It is a very broad spectrum and everyone expresses different views and opinions about what is right and what is wrong.
Pre-reading:
1. When I think of bad English, I typically think about incorrect grammar. So many people have issues with grammar, and errors are seen everywhere. My mindset that it's "bad English" is because throughout school, I have been taught that incorrect grammar is "wrong" and "not okay." Teachers have always focused much on grammar and less on content. Their main goal always seemed to be to help students stray from a path of "bad" writing, as if the only way a student could be a "good" writer would be to have excellent spelling and punctuation. The reality, though, is that grammar has little to do with exceptional writing. However, I have been taught the opposite for years and am just learning that grammar should not be nearly as important as it has been sought out to be.
Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
3. prescriptive - of or relating to the imposition or enforcement of a rule or method
descriptive - assigning a quality rather than restricting the application of the expression modified
In the past, the only grammar instruction I ever really received had to do with spelling, punctuation, or definitions of terms. The usage and distinction between words as Bryson explains them was never taught to me or given much thought. I always just studied "correct" grammar and made sure I knew what certain words meant by their definitions in the dictionary. The only other usage I was taught was how to use certain words correctly in a sentence.
Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2. When Bryson says that English is fluid and democratic, he means that it can change any time and is a reflection of the way the society is speaking and communicating. Each person has a different say, a different opinion on what is grammatically correct or incorrect. People can basically decide these things on their own and do not necessarily always have to follow a set of rules, because no specific rules have been set. Things are the way they are simply because of the ways they have been used and communicated by others. Personally, I have seen many different styles of writing and learned that everyone uses terms in different ways. There is no one specific way of writing or English usage.
Meta Moment:
Parts of speech:
- verbs
- nouns
- pronouns
- adjectives
- adverbs
- prepositions
- conjunctions
- interjections
I usually do not think about the parts of speech while I write; I simply write and make sure I have used the words correctly in my sentences. These parts of speech were taught to myself and my peers in school, but I found that as I got older, they were not so important as were the grammatical parts of the language and the correct usage. I do think that knowing the parts of speech and grammatical terms can help people write better because it provides for a better sense of meaning and knowing how to use certain terms in a sentence. Even though there are no set, exact "rules," certain things are just common sense because they have been communicated and used the same way in the English language and society for a very long period of time.
My thoughts:
I thought this article was very interesting. I enjoyed the beginning; it made me think twice about the English language and how terms we use every day are more than we think. However, I think that Bryson piled too much information in the article too quickly. It started off well, and then suddenly he threw a bunch of information out. It was at times hard to keep up with. I enjoyed the length though, and thought that--even with the excessive amount of information in such a short article--it was written well and given a bit more simplicity (instead of being dragged on and on).
This article compares to past articles we have read because it explores the English language and is a good example of conversation in writing, which has been a very important topic throughout the class so far.
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