--- title: Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing», a lesson of the english course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Standard English is the dialect used for school writing, exams, newspapers and formal letters all ove --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/) / Standard English and dialect: "we was"… # Standard English and dialect: "we was" in talk, "we were" in writing Lesson 38 of the english course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/1/) — Standard English is the dialect used for school writing, exams, newspapers and formal letters all over the English-speaking world; it is not "better", it is the shared one, like a common plug that fits every socket. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/2/) — Accent is different: it is how words sound; you can speak Standard English in a Glasgow, Lagos or Texas accent, and you can speak dialect in a posh one. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/3/) — So when a teacher writes "we were" over "we was", she is not saying Kai's family talks wrong; she is handing him a second tool, the way a footballer has home kit and away kit and wears each at the right match. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/4/) — Switching between home talk and Standard English depending on who you are with is called code-switching, and most people do it every day without noticing: one voice for mates, another for the head teacher. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/5/) — A dialect is a variety of a language with its own words and grammar, spoken by a group or in a place. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/6/) — Standard English is the variety used in formal writing and formal speech; it is one dialect among many, and it is the one schools teach for writing. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/7/) — An accent is the way words sound; any dialect, including Standard English, can be spoken in any accent. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/8/) — "We was", "I done it", "them books", "I seen it" and "I ain't got none" are common in many dialects; the Standard English forms are "we were", "I did it", "those books", "I saw it" and "I haven't got any". - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/9/) — Two negatives together, as in "I didn't see nobody", are a regular pattern in many dialects (and in languages such as French); Standard English says "I didn't see anybody". - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/10/) — Dialects follow rules: speakers of "we was" use "was" with every person, which is a regular pattern, not a random mistake. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/11/) — In parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire "the" is shortened to t' ("Put t'kettle on"). - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/12/) — "Youse" (Ireland, Scotland, Liverpool) and "y'all" (the American South) are plural forms of "you"; Standard English uses "you" for one or many. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/13/) — In Multicultural London English "man" can mean "I", as in "Man's going shop." - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/14/) — In Bristol "Where's it to?" means "Where is it?"; in Singapore English "Can or not?" means "Is that possible?" or "Is that okay?" - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/15/) — Code-switching means changing how you speak or write depending on who you are with and why. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/16/) — SATs grammar questions in England ask for Standard English, so pupils need to know the standard forms as well as their home forms. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/38-standard-english-and-dialect-we-was-and-we-were/17/) — Laughing at someone's dialect is unkind and also wrong about language: every variety of English has grammar. - ← previous: [Paragraphs and cohesion: holding a text together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/37-paragraphs-and-cohesion-holding-a-text-together/) - next →: [Planning before writing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/39-planning-before-writing/) - ↑ back to [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/)