The importance of proper and improper English
What not speaking proper English teaches you about language—and about life
“LET’S talk properly.” Tom Sherrington had little reason to think that his blog post, so titled, would cause controversy. A British consultant and former head teacher, he had called on educators to work harder at getting their students to stop saying things like “We done lots of great activities” and “I ain’t done nothing.” He recycled the blog post recently on Twitter—to a fierce and (to him) surprising backlash from linguists.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “We was and it ain’t”
From the November 4th 2017 edition
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