Gender In English

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate October 2001

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Gender and English When asking who is concerned more with speaking correct English, I figured I would get a wide variety of answers. I also thought that the male and female answers would differ. However, the ten participants I had asked all gave me the same answer: Women. Women are more concerned with speaking correct English. I do not think there is a correct and accurate way that this could be tested. What is "correct"ÃÂ English anyway? How would we test who is more concerned? Just because someone is concerned does not mean that they know the formal method or rules that the testee is going to expect from them in their language. By not having a common definition of "correct"ÃÂ English, I find that it is not a fair way evaluate if there is an answer to this question. However, each participant did not hesitate to answer that women were more concerned.

"Women are more likely to want to sound like they fit in with the elite,"ÃÂ answered one participant named Ashley. Women do typically want to fit into a certain gourp with high class qualities. What woman would not want to fit in with others? I suppose there are a select few but the ideology is that they would want to. In most situations women might feel that they have to compete with others to gain attention and praise. By talking with the idealistic grammar rules, they might feel they accomplish this.

"Women think before they say things out loud, that way they generally sound educated and more informed about correct grammar,"ÃÂ says Katie who as a female obviously feels that men do not think before they open their mouths. I do not know that this is a reason that women may use "correct"ÃÂ grammar, but...