ENGLISH III - UNIT 1: LEARNING AND USING STANDARD ENGLISH LEARNING A STANDARD

People who do not use Standard English are unintelligent.

False

Standard English came to you naturally as a child.

False

Three reasons for learning Standard English have been discussed. Choose the reason that applies to the situation. Speakers of different dialects struggle to understand each other.

Standard English helps to "bridge" differences in how people use language.

Three reasons for learning Standard English have been discussed. Choose the reason that applies to the situation. Employers expect employees to use language that communicates an ability to do the job.

Standard English is expected in the workplace.

Three reasons for learning Standard English have been discussed. Choose the reason that applies to the situation. Books are written in Standard English. Most public writing and speaking situations require its use.

Standard English is the language of education and literacy.

People who speak Standard English are perceived as educated.

True

Standard English was invented

True

You can learn Standard English by being around it.

True

vocabulary

a common way of defining and using words

pronunciation

a common way of speaking and decoding (reading) words

spelling

a common way of writing words

usage

agreed-upon ways of using language in different situations (e.g., formal and informal styles, greetings, farewells, etc.)

nonstandard English

any variety of English whose structure and/or use does not follow the rules of Standard English

conventions

established ways of marking writing to communicate starts, stops, pauses, shifts of thought, and organizational structure (i.e., capitalization and punctuation rules)

Standard English

the varieties of spoken and written English receiving widespread acceptance among educated people, together with the rules governing use

grammar

ways of clearly expressing relationships among ideas in sentences (subject-verb agreement; pronoun-antecedent agreement, etc.)