–a brief introduction

American English is how we speak and how we speak is grammar and, for me, proper grammar is all-important. But for many American speakers, it seems, there is no grammar, much less proper grammar. This blog is for me to express what I believe we Americans are doing to our language.

I grew up in a family of educators and lived in neighborhoods full of educators. I spent my youth being grammatically corrected and I thought everyone grows up to teach. I’m grown now; I don’t teach but I do know a little about grammar.

Poor grammar has become so common in American English that the media use it as if it was proper and correct. Poor grammar will never be proper but many Americans act as though, if they use it enough, it will become grammatically correct. I know this isn’t possible, and yet, I did research to prove to myself that I was right.

I started my research with my belief that people say things, right or wrong, good or bad, because they hear “everybody else” say them. I learned I was right. Social influences provoke an unconscious desire to follow others, and nearly every American uses and pronounces words incorrectly as a result of those social influences.

My research also helped me learn about American English as a language. I grew to understand that the language is a living, growing, evolving entity. I see every American speaker having, at least, a miniscule amount of influence on the language. With influence from everyone, and direction from no one, American English is like a wildfire, that will go where it will go, become what it will become, and there is nothing that I, nor anyone else, can do to change its course.

I concluded that the influence on people is unavoidable; it’s part of human nature to be manipulated. And, it doesn’t matter if the majority is right or wrong, the majority sets the rules.

While I was researching and learning about American English my opinion of the language, and those of us speak it, changed. Grammar is still all-important for me but I grew to appreciate the vitality of our ever-changing language.

I must add a disclaimer. I know enough about grammar to know when it’s wrong but I’m often wrong too, and I’m continually correcting myself. Unfortunately, I find it easier to say what I hear rather than what I know to be correct. And, even though this blog is about grammar, I am certain it will contain grammatical errors.