In “Our Language,” Oliver Kamm expresses his dissatisfaction with modern day pedants, who claim that people who apply the English language in a way that is different from the pedants’ idea of “Standard English” are incorrect. In 2008, Kamm, a British journalist and writer, became a leader writer and columnist for The Times, writing two weekly columns and acting as the newspaper’s editorial writer on economics, international affairs and culture (Authors, n.d.). Kamm studied at Oxford University, where he obtained a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics, and went on to achieve a master’s degree in politics at London University (O. Kamm, personal communication, December 7, 2015). He started his career off in the financial sector, and also …show more content…
Kamm explains how critics are judging people’s use of the English language unjustly and how he disagrees with this. He describes how people grow up speaking a certain way by instinct and observation, similar to scholarly linguists, rather than by using stylistic conventions, as pedants would. Kamm expresses his disagreement with pedantry, which, in his opinion, is a discourteous act of misconception and should instead be replaced with general usage of the language. He claims that people should get rid of the idea that Standard English is the only correct form of English and in the process achieve social and linguistic …show more content…
In his sentence he states that this is something “we are told”, but fails to provide evidence as to who tells us this. It is clear that Kamm is attempting to overstate the situation in order to provide himself with something to back up his point of view, while lacking clear facts to support his claims. Kamm’s overuse of opinion is highly evident in his article. When he asks “does anyone doubt that our mother tongue is in deep decline?” he immediately answers with “well, for one, I do.” He does not deliver statistics as to the number of other people who agree with that statement, but instead relies solely on his own judgement. Kamm’s article is also abundant with logical fallacies. The title “Our Language” is itself a sweeping generalization, as not everyone reading this article can relate in terms of the language described, that being English, and so it is not necessarily “our” language. In his article, Kamm tries to prove his point that people do not need specific rules to be invoked in order to speak properly, and instead can just rely on their own instincts. In doing so, Kamm, once again, uses sweeping generalization by saying “we all have the instinct,” when that is not essentially true. Kamm uses phrases like “we should be entirely relaxed” or “why worry,” while discussing different choices in grammar, in order to downplay
At the beginning of his essay, Dave Grossman talks about the two main elements that are helping to mantain the killing rates down. The two points that Grossman designed were the enhanced arrest of violent criminals and the progress of medical technology. This caused Grossman to spread contradictions throughout his essay, causing it to be unclear as a whole. In the fallowing paragraph, “Today, both our assault rate and murder rate are at phenomenally high levels.” (Paragraph 6) is an opposing expression in the essay.
What she previously thought was “bad” English is merely a language variation, each variation with its own history and culture. Lanehart now believes these variations need to be celebrated and that they don't always need to be corrected. The more Lanehart learned, the more she believed that English can vary as long as we can all understand each other. Lanehart decides she doesn’t want to correct people anymore.
Review of Vershawn Young Discussion After reading “Vershawn Ashanti Young: Should Writers Use They Own English?” against Rebecca Wheeler’s “Code-Switch to Teach Standard English (Young 111. Wheeler 108)”. Each paper expresses a different opinion regarding the teaching of English in the classrooms. Each author writes with different agendas, different tones, and different purposes. Each acts upon their beliefs as they perceive them, and as a result are poles apart.
In the autobiography Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, he expresses his political ideologies and strategies in ruling over millions of people. He mostly reveals his perspectives on racial matters, asserting that the Aryan race is dominant over any other ethnic groups. Although Adolf Hitler’s statements successfully convinced and appealed to almost all the people in the Germanic nation, his arguments, however, are undoubtedly loaded with logical fallacies. In Chapter 11 of the autobiography, Hitler mainly focuses on his notions regarding racial superiority.
Some information about the author: She was born in China and studied in a local Chinese school for a few years before switching to an International school. It provided her the chance to experience first hand the real meaning behind "broken English", and understand how non-standard varieties of English have their own rules and shape a community 's sense of identity. In this article, she shares her views on Amy Tan 's "Mother Tongue" and talks about the power of language. I was reading Amy Tan 's "Mother Tongue" when I came across the idea of language being "fractured and broken". She gave examples of how her mother’s limited English caused her to be given poor service at department stores, banks and restaurants.
Language is powerful, and can even mean the difference between life and death. This proves to be true in Tobias Wolff’s short story “Bullet in the Brain,” in which he makes a point about criticism and language. The main character is Anders. His profession as a book critic is essential to the story because he deals with language every day. He even ridicules bank robbers who point a gun at him because their language is stereotypical.
In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.
Nicholas Carr wrote this essay to let the upcoming generations know about the danger effect of the Internet overuse by using ethos, logos, and pathos and also some other rhetorical strategies. He starts his essay with a scene that was takin by Stanley Kubrick’s A in 2001: A Space Odyssey at the end of the paragraph saying, “I can feel it.’’ And after that he started his next paragraph with the same words, “I can feel it.’’
Selena Quintanilla’s father once said, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” In today’s society, many have encountered the challenge of not being able to be who they really are because they fear not being accepted by others, more specifically their culture. But, what happens when an individual is part of two worlds that have just as many rules? Gloria E. Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American writer and poet who made a major contribution to the fields of cultural, feminist, and queer theory. Anzaldúa identifies as a Chicana and speaks different variations of Spanish, some of which she exhibits in her works.
Rhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.
By limiting the vocabulary, Newspeak is essentially “unintelligible” and hence controls the people’s understanding of the real world. Orwell emphasises that language is of utmost importance as it structures and limits the ideas individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. In 1984, language is used as a ‘mind control tool’. The party slogan, “war is peace, freedom is
In collection 1 there are three important selections, we have read, those three selections are Balboa by Sabina Murray, Blaxicans by Richard Rodriquez, and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, these stories are all different in many ways, they all have different points in life like going from good to bad, and disrespected to respect. In the short story Balboa when Balboa left his homeland, he was close to nothing compared to other people, “Balboa the gambling pig farmer, who, in an effort to escape his debt, has found himself at the very edge of the world.” (Murray 78) This quote shows that when Balboa left his homeland all they saw him, as was a no good pig farmer who was in debt and was trying to escape.
In Lera Boroditsky 's "How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think" the purpose of the essay is apparent from the second paragraph. "Language is a uniquely human gift central to our experience of being human" she explains, so that the reader understands how language affects ones thoughts and day to day lives (2). Boroditsky 's use of empirical evidence, factual information, organizational structure, understanding and construction upon thoughts that disprove her purpose, and light tone all aide in accomplishing her purpose. Each of these methods help convince the audience that, " Language is central to our experience of being human, and the languages we speak profoundly shapes the way we think, the way we see the world, the way we live our lives" (Boroditsky 10).
In Politics and the English Language, Orwell writes, “In certain types of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning. Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader” (Language that Manipulates, 238). Orwell asks the reader to evaluate a scenario in order to point out one or more of the ways society takes words for granted. Orwell carefully exaggerates the issue of vocabulary apprehension and usage, thereby drawing light to the impending consequences of a seemingly small societal issue.
Today, issues of social class are not straightforward as they once were; increased educational opportunity and economic prosperity means that more and more young people are exposed to standard English than ever before. Nevertheless, linguistic prejudice still exists, particularly amongst employers, some politicians and sections of the general public. as