Five things people get wrong about standard English Willem Hollmann, Lancaster University https://theconversation.com/five-things-people-get-wrong-about-standard-english-168969 "the 85% to 88% of the UK population that speak non-standard forms of English" 1. Grammar and standard English grammar are the same thing " It is just as valid to tell a child that “were” in the non-standard clause “I were” is a verb, as it is to point to “was” in the standard clause “I was”. Both observations will help the child learn what a verb is, as opposed to a noun. " some speakers in Lancashire use “were” instead of “was”, while others actually say “was” instead of “were”. 2. There is only one standard English "A New Yorker, for example, who moves to London may well say “gotten” instead of the English Standard English “got”. The notion that there is a single, monolithic standard English – be that across the world, in the UK or in England – is a fiction." 3. Standard English and Received Pronunciation are the same thing "Standard English is not about speaking in a posh accent. Linguists concur that anyone who speaks in the accent known as received pronunciation (RP) will also use the words and grammar that make up standard English. However, not all speakers of standard English have the same accent. "Of the UK population, only 3% speak in RP, whereas standard English is the home dialect of 12 to 15%. The expressions “I was” and “I were” do not represent variation in terms of accent but between standard and non-standard English." 4. Standard English is the only variety with clear rules " non-standard varieties of the English language also have grammatical rules." "Lancashire speakers who say “I gave it him” rather than “I gave him it” or “I gave it to him” " In fact, non-standard varieties can provide greater clarity. Take the word “you”." "Many non-standard varieties are clearer: they have plural forms such as “yous”, “y’all” or “yins”." 5. You need Standard English in order to think straight Elitist and classist, this fifth myth around standard English perfectly encapsulates why treating all dialects non-judgmentally is vital. It is important that it be taught as part of the national curriculum, particularly for use in formal writing. But many educational linguists agree that presenting it as the only correct way – and by extension, telling a child they speak in an incorrect or wrong way – is humiliating. It can discourage them from engaging fully in education. And that can only ever harm both the individuals concerned and society at large.