Larry

Fall 2003

December 10

African American Vernacular English/"Standard English":

• AAVE uses a subject and a pronoun, SE uses one or the other.
  You wrote: My mother she went to the store.
  In SE: My mother went to the store.

• AAVE drops the "s" on the verb when you use he or she (third person):
  You wrote: My mom say they was in style.
  In SE: My mom says they [are/were] in style.

• AAVE Zero copula rule (drops is or are between a subject (in this case, "they") and a verb (what's said about the subject — in this case that the shoes are raggedy). SE inserts is or are.
  You wrote: I don't see how they raggedy.
  In SE: I don't see how. They are raggedy.

Punctuation:
Use a comma when you are saying someone's name in conversation:
You wrote: "Mom why I have to wear these ugly shoes."
Correct use: "Mom, why I have to wear these ugly shoes."

Dialogue: Open up a novel that uses standard punctuation of dialogue and check for how the author punctuates dialogue. Pay attention to quotation marks, commas, capitals, and periods.

Paragraphing:
Start a new paragraph for each speaker. (See note above)

Fall 2003