Bryson Response

Bryson Reading

Summary:

In this article Good English and Bad Bill Bryson the author argues against many of the functions and processing of the American language we call English. Also he argues against grammarians and how they make and develop rules for the English language. Bryson discusses and explains how our language is derived from so many others and one big one is Latin which is now a dead language and not only that Bryson goes on to explain how different the two languages are and how it makes no sense for it to be the basis of our language. Bryson talks about the effects of our language and all the impurities like how complex it has become in using it the right way. Also how we in actuality don’t even use it the right way most of times instead we use what sounds right or has been taught to us how to use it. Bryson has a strong dislike for grammarians and there way of attacking language and constantly adapting and making changes to things that don’t need changed or how they ignore things that make no sense because they choose to. In this article Bryson really tries to argue for how complicated the English language is and how people continue to make it more complex and difficult. This article is all about the negative effects that come from the English language, its uses and its meanings and how incorrect and complex it really is.

Synthesis:

I think that this article is very similar to Peter Elbows article about voice and how it is used in papers. I think that both articles in a way critique the English language and how people use it. They both talk about how words have all these different meanings and people all have different understandings. Peter talks a lot about how there is text that you read and text that you can hear and I think this difference has a lot to do with the English language and its rules. In these articles they both describe the effects certain words have and what they can do to writing or the structure of a sentence. Both authors are arguing about completely different topics but I think that Elbows article partly falls into Bryson’s when it comes to language and all the rules and uses of it.

1.       Before you read:

When I think about good English and bad English I think of how a person talks or writes. I think about whether they can properly apply the language without making mistakes or giving the wrong message. The first thing that comes to mind is someone who can’t speak English very well and I think this way because its morphed into our heads as children like this. As we grow we learn more and more and the language and the rules and what to say and when but some people don’t get this education or maybe come from another country and often don’t know how to properly use and apply or language and rules.

1.       Discussion and Journaling:

In the article on the first page Bryson goes into a rant about how grammarians like to use forms based on how they appeal to them or what they were taught. His discussion goes on to be about how they will attack a language concept but hide the impurities of another. This is what he called ellipsis and he uses What, Where and How as examples of this. That you can’t make a complete sentence with just one of those words, how it doesn’t meet the requirements yet grammarians argue that it is a short sentence. They say that when someone uses those words they are really expressing something longer such as what are you telling me?

3.Discussion and Journaling:

In the article prescriptive is how you should prescribe what language is and how it should be used and all the rules. Whereas descriptive is describing how language is used without taking a side or gathering an opinion. I deal with this a lot when it comes to grammar because unfortunately I was never any good at it. I have encountered this with beginning a sentence with words like and, but, because and more also I have encountered it with the use of well or good depending on the sentence.  I have received many instructions and criticism for writing and using grammar properly throughout life and these are just a few of the concepts that I had thrown at me.

1.       Applying and Exploring:

In the article Bryson describes language changing over time with many different examples as well as multiple different ways. Bryson argues about how words often will drop off part of its structure like the prefix or suffix or how they will often try and add things to a word in order to give it a different or new type of meaning. In the article they talk about many examples of this one was changing reliable to relionable. Also he talks about the development constantly of new words and or ways of using words such as his example of Shakespeare’s writing and words he used compared to words used now.  I believe we can see this everywhere in modern English in that every day people are developing new words such as putting tweeting and tebowing in the dictionary. This will continue to happen for language is always changing and grammarians as Bryson would call them are always trying to adapt the world of language. All this change and development is not something Bryson wants or likes he is against the concept of further changing the English language especially in the nature that he feels it is already far too complex as well as open for possibilities; there is no real distinction or rules that people truly follow.