The standard English All Englishspeakers book need to

The standard English All English-speakers book need to know how to write and speak standard English. Sue Palmer

Standard English is the form of English used in: * almost all written texts * speech in formal situations. All English-speakers need to know how to write and speak standard English.

dialect may be regional or ethnic has its own grammatical rules has its own dialect words jargon Most people use some non-standard forms in daily life. In some social situations they are more appropriate than Standard English. Some types of non-standard English usually relates to an occupation special words and phrases used to - express technical know-how - show membership of group - exclude and mystify others slang usually relates to an age-group special words and phrases used to - show membership of the group - exclude and mystify others other Non-standard English may involve nonstandard vocabulary see pages 4 – 10. It may also include non-standard grammar see page 11. non-standard forms that started as dialect or slang but became widespread considered to be incorrect or ‘uneducated’ use of English

regular verbs, present tense 1 st 2 nd 3 rd you work he she works it NUMBER 1 st 2 nd you have 3 rd you have he she it has they have I work hard. You have won. They are sad. I was going. We were there. The class work hard. The class works hard. Collective nouns are singular. More about agreement you are they are NUMBER the verb ‘be’, past tense singular plural I was we were you were they were you were he she was it PERSON we have I works hard. You has won. They is sad. I were going. We was there. you are he she is it 3 rd I have standard we are 2 nd plural non-standard I am 1 st singular they work plural PERSON you work singular 3 rd we work The subject and verb of a sentence must agree in terms of NUMBER and PERSON. the verb ‘be’, present tense 2 nd I work the verb ‘have’, present tense PERSON plural NUMBER 1 st PERSON singular NUMBER

Regular past tenses just add ed work ed have has worked past Watch out for past tense irregular non-standard I seen you. She done it. It’s broke. It come yesterday. s standard I saw you. or I have seen you. She did it. or She has done it. It broke. or It’s broken. It came yesterday. ‘perfect’ past ‘perfect’ be was/were have has been tell told have has told see saw have has seen break broke have has broken do did have has done come came have has come take took have has taken go went have has gone

Double negatives are not standard English non-standard You don’t know nothing. You don’t know anything. You know nothing. She never saw nobody. She didn’t see anybody. She saw nobody. I’m not helping no more. I’m not helping any more. I’m helping no longer. I ain’t got none. I haven’t any. I haven’t (got) any I have none. I have (got) none. You’re not going nowhere. any You aren’t going anywhere. You’re going nowhere. They ain’t never happy. They aren’t ever happy. They’re never happy.

Pronouns have different forms depending on the jobs they are doing in the sentence. plex e Com See Th e Book. c Senten Singular Plural he she it him her it subject we you they object us you them your his her its owner our your their yourself himself herself itself ‘self’ subject I you object me you owner my ‘self’ myself non-standard ourselves yourselves themselves standard For relative pronouns see The Complex Sentence Book. subject Dad and me went home. Dad and I went home. object They asked James and I. They asked James and me. owner We lost us books. We lost our books. self He did it his self. He did it himself. Give me them books. Give me those books. ‘pointing pronouns’ this/these that/those

Adjectives should not be used as adverbs (to answer the s question or ‘to ‘how? ’ what) degree? ’ non-standard adjectives standard She sang beautifully. He did it properly. I played good. I played well. It was real shiny. It was really shiny. adverbs

Certain prepositions are expected in standard English phrases, e. g. agree to (something) agree with (somebody) comment on (something) disagree with different from This differs from American Standard English: different than divide among (many) divide between (two) grateful to (someone) grateful for (something) similar to opposite to

When listing people, it is considered polite to put yourself last. Me and Tom went home. Tom and I went home. Try not to end a sentence with a preposition. She’s worth listening to to. It’s worth listening to her. There are many other conventions associated with written standard English, e. g. The word ‘got’ is best avoided. It got hotter. I got there. It grew hotter. I arrived. In expressions of condition or possibility, ‘were’ is used instead of ‘was’. If I was you … If I were you …

Some types of non-standard English vocabulary dialect words e. g. jam butty jam sarnie jeely piece (Northern England) (Southern England) (Scotland) jargon words e. g. a shout a wrap masthead (fire fighters) (film-makers) (newspaper workers) slang words e. g. expressions of approval: cool, rad, fab, wicked The short-hand form of words used in textmessaging is a type of written slang, e. g. u r gr 8 colloquial words which began as slang, jargon or dialect but are now widespread in speech, e. g. brilliant, OK, fantastic Some non-vocabulary (especially colloquialisms) May be used in informal Standard English.

Written standard English varies, depending upon the level of formality. informal (more like spoken language) Standard English grammar used at all times formal • simple vocabulary (sometimes quite colloquial) • formal vocabulary (often multisyllabic words) • use of shortened forms, e. g. can’t, should’ve • no shortened forms, e. g. cannot, should have • many simple and compound • many complex sentences (see The Complex Sentence Book) sentences • use of ‘informal’ punctuation marks (dashes, brackets) • use of ‘formal’ punctuation marks (colon, semi-colon) • informal sentence connectives • formal sentence connectives (See next page)

Sentence Connectives In informal writing and But but So so Or or And are often used to start a sentence informal Formal Also Furthermore Moreover However On the other hand Therefore Consequently Alternatively On the other hand

Pronunciation Standard English may be spoken in any accent. However, accent is not the same as careless pronunciation. Speech should be clear enough for all listeners to hear and understand.

Skeleton Poster Books for GRAMMAR The End Show