Introduction to Common Misusages

Common Language Misusages

]It has often been said that native speakers of a language are at a disadvantage when compared to non-native speakers with regard to grammatical precision and correct usage. This seems like the complete opposite of what we might expect, but when we look at the different ways native and non-native speakers learn a language, the strange situation begins to make more sense. Native speakers do not first learn a given language by being taught its rules: that comes later, long after the person has learned to speak proficiently. Children simply absorb the language as it unfolds around them, and so they will adopt the habits and manner of speaking of their parents and peers, learning the correct forms and rules through induction without conscious study or analysis.

As a result, native speakers have a far greater appreciation for subtleties of their native tongue like idiom, abbreviation, contraction, and fluid tones with appropriate transitions and stresses. However, because language is learned by native speakers in the real world and on the fly, they will adopt both the correct and incorrect terms and forms of use that they hear; the person who uses incorrect words therefore cannot really be said to be making a mistake in the truest sense of the word, for they are flawlessly replicating the forms and systems that they have been given. An individual who uses the word "me" in the possessive, as in "I will take me dog to the vet," as opposed to "my," is doing precisely what he or she had learned, not willfully or ignorantly butchering the language.

Non-native speakers, of course, do not learn language the same way. Once we reach our late teen and adult years, we lose out childhood capacity to acquire language naturally and "for free," without significant effort and study. As a result, when we learn a new language, we move deductively, learning the rules first and then forming the language based on them. As a result, it would not even occur to a non-native speaker to substitute "me" for "my," as they would have a solid understanding of the rules surrounding the objective and possessive forms of the personal pronoun. Similarly, the mistakes many of us make between "I" and "me" is simply not a factor for foreign speakers, as they learn the rules for applying them before they ever have a chance to get them wrong.

Note that the terms "incorrect usage" and "poor grammar" presuppose that there is an objective and correct version of the language which invalidates all other forms and variations. However, this is not really the case in any overarching way. As was mentioned above, speakers learn the language that surrounds them, and only convention and the authority of a given group of language users demarcates the "correct" dialect and usage from the "incorrect" versions. In some parts of the world, using "me" for "my" is the norm; only the conventions and rules handed down from authorities like the government, schools, and universities make such usage wrong.

However, despite the relative arbitrariness of the distinctions between proper and improper language use, it is an undeniable fact that one of the last socially sanctioned forms of prejudice rests in our evaluations of how people use language. Using certain phrases and words in ways that are considered incorrect, both in speech and in writing, will undoubtedly lead others (who know and apply the acknowledged linguistic standards) to judge them as being less intelligent, less educated, and perhaps even inferior people. This is not necessarily the case at all, but the fact remains that knowing how to use language properly is vitally important to creating a positive impression, whether that be in the classroom, or in the world at large. Think of this series, then, not merely as an exercise in English, but rather as a guideline to avoiding embarrassment, and to getting the respect you and your ideas deserve.