“Grammar matters deeply when it’s a question of good and bad communication. It’s not a question of following rules; it’s a question of understanding what grammar means and how it works.”
Michael McCarthy – The Observer – 26-3-06
I have just come back from a short tour of Germany where I gave talks sponsored by Helbling Languages Academy.
One of the talks is called – Teaching and Learning Grammar – and has an activity which looks at grammar rules and some trends in spoken conversational English.
First look at the sentences below and decide if they are right or wrong. Then read the comments for each sentence after the list.
1. That is a rule up with which I will not put.
2. You know, sort of little garden, kind of, you know.
3. The meal was cooked by John and I.
4. There’s some great places to go.
5. So when we gets to the party I says to Lia, “Hey, this is great!”
6. That’s so not cool.
7. She was like, ‘Whatever’.
8. We all want to go, innit?
9. We was there, but she weren’t.
10. Who is right? It depends on whom you ask.
Comments
1. That is a rule up with which I will not put.
Famous quote from Churchill. The rule states you should never end a sentence with a preposition.
2. You know, sort of little garden, kind of, you know.
Spoken by Prince Charles in an informal BBC interview, using the grammar of spoken English.
3. The meal was cooked by John and I.
Some native speakers try to act posh by using ‘I’ instead of ‘me’, even when it is grammatically incorrect.
4. There’s some great places to go.
There is + plural – acceptable grammar of spoken English.
5. So when we gets to the party I says to Lia, “Hey, this is great!”
Historic / dramatic / narrative present used in everyday conversation, to make the story more vivid. The third person present form is also used in nonstandard narration.
6. That’s so not cool.
‘So not’ as an emphatic intensifier is quite new and is very common with younger speakers.
7. She was like, ‘Whatever’.
Be like = say/go – used to introduce direct reported speech, very common with younger speakers.
8. We all want to go, innit?
Innit = isn’t it. Used by young British people for any question tag. Invariant tag like Portuguese – ‘né?’
9. We was there, but she weren’t.
MLE – Multicultural London English. Prevalent in England, especially among young people in London and the south of England, but also rapidly spreading around the country. The past tense of the verb ‘to be’ uses only ‘was’ for all persons and ‘weren’t’ for the negative.
For more information about MLE, see post on Disal Blog 1-05-13:
10. Who is right? It depends on whom you ask.
According to the rules of formal grammar, ‘who’ should be used for the subject and ‘whom’ for the object, and after a preposition, but nowadays most people use ‘who’ in all contexts.
Jack Scholes has a first degree in German/Russian from Liverpool University, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education and EFL from London University, and he is also a Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He has over 40 years experience in ELT and is now a freelance writer, trainer and ELT specialist.
