Readers Response #10

In the article “Good English and Bad” Bill Bryson explains how the rules of grammar are simply fading. He starts with the history of English, explaining its complexity. He talks about the fact that since there are not grammar police, the rules have been broken. Bryson believes that this problem was created because of how we teach grammar.

When Reading Bryson’s article “Good English and Bad” I could really relate it to James Porter’s article about the discourse community. Although different topics, they both touched on the idea of having to fit into a certain community with their writing. They both realized that what we write depends on the community you are in and whether it’s there or not determines if you follow the “rules”.

Before You Read:

1. I would consider good English from bad English depending on the usage of words, variety of vocabulary, and sentence structure. Bad English would be more considered as simple and full of error. I think this because growing up our teachers would show us clips of good writing and bad.

QD:

1. Bryson is challenging grammar. Bryson states “Consider the parts of speech. In Latin, the verb has up to 120 inflections. In English it never has more than five…” when explaining how watered down the complex language really is. He also mentions “We seldom stop to think about it, but some of the most basic concepts in English are naggingly difficult to find” and explains the fact that the definition of a sentence is a lot different than how we use it.

AE:

2. I think what Bryson means when he says the English is fluid and democratic is that it is always changing with the popular crowd. I have seen this in writing because it is always changing and writers sort of change their style with the popular demand at the time.

MM:  Verb. Noun. Adjective. When I write I am never really thinking about the part if speech. You learn about parts of speech in middle school. I think when your younger knowing the parts of speech does help you with writing. It’s what shapes the sentence and helps you get a better understanding of it. I think as you get older you don’t really think about the parts of speech when you’re actually writing it just happens.

I thought Bryon’s article was kind of interesting. Grammar is something that’s not so important to people more so now a days. I really think grammar needs to be enforced a little more. Grammar is something we deal with in everyday life whether realizing it or not.