Make a list
of three sentences that you have been told are incorrect, improper grammar, sloppy speech and so on. Who corrected you, and did you accept his or
her judgment. Why or why not? Try to determine whether the sentences you
were corrected for are in fact part of your descriptive
grammar. That is, are they
sentences you would normally say, even if you think they are “improper
grammar”? Is your characterization of
them as “incorrect” based on what you think someone else (such as a professor)
might think of them? If you find the
question hard to answer, list some reasons why.
Next Section next.
(Lobeck 20)
Lobeck,
Anne. Discovering Grammar: An Introduction to English
Sentence Structure. New York: Oxford, 2000.