Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking: How to Communicate Clearly by John Seely

Author:John Seely [Seely, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013-10-09T20:00:00+00:00

Standard English

Ever since the invention of printing there has been pressure to standardize English. When Caxton set up his printing press in the fifteenth century, he was aware of the problems caused by the variety of different dialects spoken in England. He had to choose which dialect and which spellings to adopt when publishing books in English. The period since then has seen the evolution of standard English, which may be only one more dialect of the language, but which has far more social prestige than the others and which is normally used in writing as well as being used in all formal or semi-formal speech situations.

Standard English is not, however, something fixed. When people who write about language describe a usage as ‘non-standard’, they are making a judgement based on experience, rather than a statement of scientific fact. This is perhaps easier to understand if one compares the possible alternatives.

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