Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’m going to talk about different than.
The other day someone left a comment after I said different than.
I said: Is it different than your accent?
And this person said that’s wrong. It should be different from.
The person writing that said they felt quite strongly about that too, which I think is interesting.
I’d never really thought about different than and different from before. So I looked it up and it turns out that different from is Standard English – but a lot of people say different than. So, it’s not really wrong, it’s just non-standard English.
So, I would say, if you’re learning English, you might as well go with the standard way of saying it. But if you want to say it the non-standard way, then I think that’s fine too.
Just be aware that some people will that tell you it’s wrong.
Personally, I don’t really have a problem with non-standard English - depending on the circumstances of course. If you’re writing an essay for school then you should definitely use Standard English and follow the style guide for your school or university.
But if you’re writing a poem or writing in your diary or writing an email to a friend and you want to use non-standard English, then, go ahead, I say.
And I think it’s important to remember that there a two different kinds of “mistakes”.
First there are actual mistakes, things that native English speakers never say, like: Can you borrow me the book? I think these are the kind of mistakes that you should be focusing on. And the other kind of “mistakes”, I wouldn’t even call them mistakes - just non-standard English.
And whether or not these non-standard English expressions are right or wrong ... I would just leave that to the native speakers to worry about.
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today, Jim Carrey is starring in an online video to help free a woman in Myanmar.
Jim Carrey is a Canadian-American actor. He’s famous for being funny.
But his latest role isn’t funny.
He is starring in a video on behalf of the Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
They aim to help free a woman who is being held captive by the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
CNN reported Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent efforts to bring down the oppressive military regime in Myanmar.
She is now under long-term house arrest.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 29th of August.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#298 Do you use non-standard English?
Step 1: Repeat Tom’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tom’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Tom Do you use non-standard English?
Sarah Yip.
Tom For example?
Sarah Ah, like saying yip. That’s not standard. Standard English is yes.
Tom So, is it better to say yes?
Sarah No, I don’t think so. Not necessarily. Depends on the situation. If you want to be formal, you should say yes rather than yip or yeah.
Tom What kind of situations?
Sarah Ah, maybe at a job interview. But then it would depend on the job as well. Also, like at school, the school I went to, when the teacher called the roll, most of the students just answered yip or yi – but if it was a different kind of school, like a private school, then I think the teachers might make the students say yes.
Tom What’s another example?
Sarah Ah, double negatives, like, I don’t have no money. Ah, that’s non-standard English. Standard English would be, I don’t have any money.
Tom Do you use double negatives?
Sarah No. But some native speakers do.
music
show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site
Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.
Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.
Posts
