Ridicule of my pupil

(I'm tempted to say that it seems to follow humidity.)

Setsu was speaking correctly, as taught by Ronmac. Correct usage in every day speech does often sound odd, since it is so little followed - as Dlowan noted.

I try to use words that are correct but avoid the stiffness of the example, "It is I". In the second example, I would have said, "I did" (ask for water).

In the first, I'm afraid I would have been rude. I don't like the phone behavior of asking the person who answered who they are. You are invading that person's space with your phone call. So, in place of the example answer, I might have said instead, "Who is this?" Testy, I am a little testy about this.

I must add that this lack of enthusiasm I have for identifying myself to callers drives telemarketers nuts, which I feel is always a good thing.

Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate it because I now have 20
pupils, new citizens from various countries, Portugal, Finland,
Kuwait, India and Hong Kong and they all wanto to improve their English.

I hate it when I hear someone say "he wuz biggernme" when they
mean "he was bigger than I" and one teacher on TV said last night " Less than ten students passed that test". I told my class that she should have said "Fewer than ten students, not less than".

As for anybody replying "Yo" , I wouldn't allow it in a classroom.

Without being labelled a snob I think we are judged by others the
minute we open our mouths to speak, so why not make a good
impression? Of course with friends it's OK to say anything.

Of course, "making a good impression" is a highly dependent on circumstance and does not necessarily follow correct usage, as this thread itself illustrates.

Keep up the teaching!

Ronmac60, you are absolutely correct, in my experience, in your surmise about our being subject to judgment based on our speech. This is something that really bugs me about the notion of African-Americans speaking their own "dialect," and this being acceptable. This sort of attitude is harmful to those children who are in school to learn what they need to cope with society. There has also been a good deal of xenophobic ranting about the inability of immigrants or legal, foreign residents to speech clear, standard English. In Ohio about 10 or 12 years ago, a law was actually passed to exclude instructors from educational institutions which received state funding if said instructors could not demonstrate a facility for speaking standard English. I don't know who applied what standard, but i have met a few people who lost their jobs. I hope that your students succeed, and their ability to speak standard English clearly will be the first test they face in attempting to realize "the American dream."

I don´t think that anyone here is going to label you a snob Ronmac.

Here is one that makes me cringe - the word "axe" instead of "ask". It would appear that it is the in-thing among certain people to use this word and I have heard business-colleagues use it during meetings and in the workplace and not be aware there is anything wrong with its use. This is simply because they were never corrected at school or at home. I actually cringed once during a meeting when a man said it and everyone looked astonished. It was so embarassing for us because he was making a presentation to clients. We did not get the account!

ronmac - you should teach correct English and if your students wish to learn slang, dialects or shortcuts then that is up to them. Afterall if you are learning to drive a car, the instructor shows you the correct way and it is up to you to instill your own bad habits over the years. Same thing for language. If not taught right then it is never mastered properly.

Hee hee!



We-e-lll, I know what you're getting at, but am wary of where that train of thought goes. I totally agree that everyone should have the ability to employ "proper English" when appropriate, such as for job interviews, or as Heeven says, in making professional presentations. However, I don't think it should be unacceptable for African-Americans to speak in their own dialect. Have you read the folkloric collections of Zora Neale Hurston, for example? Gorgeous, poetic stuff, using almost exclusively English words but in decidedly ungrammatical formations. I'd hate to see that way of speaking die out entirely.

That is not my point, Sozobe, which i hope you know. My problem is that, at least in Columbus, Ohio, it was proposed that students ought not to be burdened with learning the "slave master's" dialect. Fortunately for the students concerned, this initiative fell flat on its face. I've always been a lover of the vast diversity of language and culture in the human race. For purely economical reasons, i would add that anyone, anywhere, would be well advised to learn standard English.

Gotcha.