Evaluating the text 'Good English and Bad' by Bill Bryson has broadened
my perspective on how to judge the good and supposedly bad forms of English.
Bryson has created some persuasive contradictions suggesting that 'bad' English
is not considered informal or academically incorrect as regards to the time
period we live in now. On the contrary, the Latin grammatical complexity is
considered entirely meaningless once thoroughly observing its 'standard' usage.
Bryson provided some interesting examples that reveal the uncomprehendingly
defects within the usage of the English grammatical Language, as he declares
himself "we seldom stop to think about it, but some of the most basic
concepts in English are naggingly difficult to define." He uses the
formulation of a sentence to demonstrate the defaults of grammatical sense:
"most dictionaries define it broadly as a group of words constituting a
full thought and containing, a minimum, a subject and predicate," however
if someone says "your car got stolen" someone can reply with
"what?!", which provides enough meaning to express a "full
thought". His entire article depicts and illustrates all anomalies in the
English Language with further reference to the impact of these anomalies
created through 'refining' academies of the English Language throughout the
past centuries. Nevertheless, Bryson is very appreciative of the
continuous and inevitable change of grammatical use.
As regards to my own grammar lapses, I make them regularly due to the
fact that English is not my first language. However, there have never been
unintelligible moments where people are incapable of understanding what I'm
trying to say. They will often correct me using the standard and grammatical
definiteness of English even though they have no idea why it would be
considered as correct. Why could I not formulate a sentence slightly different
if my audience is still able to understand and communicate with me? Bryson
cherishes evolution of linguistic changes, so why not disseminate and promote
more logical, academically seen as erroneous, formulations onto a fresh society
to ease communication and evoke sensible grammar?
This was an insightful post Coco. You effectively incorporate evidence from the text and communicate using an academic register.
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