American Writing

Americans are proud of their language and rightfully so. Language defines our culture. I am a strong believer that language defines the way its speakers view and think about their world.

American English is a written and oral portrait of America. For example:

• American English is a mixture of words from many countries and cultures. America is a mixture of people from many countries and cultures.

• Americans tend to be casual; formalities are often optional. American English, in terms of grammar is casual. Remember French, Spanish, Latin? Words have different forms whether they are feminine or masculine. Many languages have two forms of the word you - one form is formal and the other is casual. American English does not have these restrictions. (English once did. Like Latin, English had different endings for each word depending on its use. It had one ending if it was the subject of the sentence, another ending if it was the direct object, and so on. Gender also played a role. We see this in our third person pronouns - he, she, him, her.)
  

Languages are living entities; they are forever changing. However, how they change is the responsibility of its speakers.

Grammar and the rules of American English are important. Certainly we all don't need to be able to identify every aspect of grammar for every form of communication, but we all need to understand enough grammar to communicate in an effective and understandable manner. Poor writing, poor use of grammar, and poor choice of words affect the way people view us. When someone doesn't speak properly, we think they are uneducated.

Thank you Dave for sharing this link with me. It is an interesting article about one person's thoughts concerning the way Americans write - Literacy Limps into the Kill Zone .