Trevor Bero and Catherine Pham
Take the quiz below to learn about how the rules of English have changed over time, and how the rules may actually be different depending on where you are and who you’re talking to.
1. For each word in bold below, choose the version of the past tense that you would use in conversation.
burn | learn | leap |
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Depending on where you’re from and the social groups you belong to, you may have a different opinion on which of these verbs is “correct.” For example, while learned is often used as the past tense of learn in both American and Canadian English, English speakers in other parts of the world may prefer learnt. The fact that both versions are considered “correct” by different groups shows that our notions of correctness are more opinion than fact. Languages have lots of diversity, and there’s often more than one way to say things correctly!
2. Imagine you have a question for someone:
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The second pronunciation (which sounds like axe) is often considered “incorrect” in present day American English. But did you know that this is actually how this word was pronounced in Old English (c.500 – c.1100)? This means that if we were living in the year 600, for example, we would actually consider aks the correct pronunciation, whereas ask would be considered incorrect. This shows how our notions of what is correct can change over time, and further reinforces the idea that there’s often more than one way to speak “correctly.”
3. Fill in the following blanks with nothing or anything
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If you chose nothing to complete any of the phrases, English grammar teachers would likely admonish you for using a “double negative.” However, these types of phrases are found in many dialects of English, and in popular culture, as in the Rolling Stones’ famous refrain “I can’t get no satisfaction.” Interestingly, much like the ask vs. aks alternation we discussed above, “double negatives” were considered correct throughout much of the history of English: Even William Shakespeare used them, and certainly he wasn’t making no mistakes!
4. Your friends want you to go see a movie with them tomorrow, but you haven’t decided if you’re going. What would you say to them?
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While most American English speakers would choose option a, some American English speakers (especially in the south) might choose option b. This is an example of a “double modal” sentence, where two modal verbs such as can, could, might, or should are used one after another. Interestingly, sentences a and b might not be used in exactly the same way in conversation: Linguists have observed that in some cases, double modals like b can be used when the speaker wants to be especially polite.
5. After a long, brutal Pennsylvanian winter, you look at your car and realize how dirty it is. Which of the options below would you say?
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Of the three, options a and c are the ones that the majority of English speakers would say. But in many parts of the US, including parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana, speakers commonly use phrases like needs washed in b as well. And like the other examples mentioned above, we know that this way of speaking is as rule-based and systematic as any other, so it doesn’t need corrected at all!
We hope you enjoyed taking this quiz, and perhaps even found some new perspective on how fun and interesting grammar can be. You may have been struck by how many different sets of rules and patterns can co-exist within the same language. This quiz just barely scratches the surface of the grammatical diversity that exists in English. As linguists and language scientists, we think that figuring out what the different rules and diverse patterns of language are, and where they come from, is one of the things that makes the study of language so interesting. If you’re interested and would like to learn more about grammatical diversity, consider checking out some of these additional resources:
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