Spanish & English Grammar SPANI

"Grammar", says JosT Rubia Bacia (1973), "is not language; it is an explanation of language" (p. vi). The child acquires language through usage, grammar through formal learning. Grammar cannot be substituted for language; when one tries to do so, the result is "an abstraction that exists in vacuo. It has no reference" (p. vi).

Standard English is the acrolect of well-educated native speakers of English. Yet, English presents a large diversity of lects, Standard English being but one variety. Some linguists thus speak of "Englishes" (McArthur, 1992, p. 355). To what extent does British English differ from American, Australian, or South African English? Are these differences significant in terms of mutual comprehension in today's "global village"? Is it true that England and America are divided by a common language, and that every Englishman is an island? Or is it, rather, that much of the world is united by a common language... that sprouts its own buds and shoots here and there as an expression of nativism?

English speakers and writers cannot have recourse to an English language academy--as can the French and the Spaniards, for example. The academy of English is composed of all the people who speak English--of all flavors.

Castilian Spanish ("castellano" or "espa±ol")--the Standard Spanish, as it were--is the official language of Spain an

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ted. The word order in Spanish is often different from that of English. Moreover, the auxiliary do is not translated in Spanish (If only because it has no meaning in English!); f.i. "Did you speak to John?" becomes "Spoke you to John?" ("(Habl= Vd con Juan?"). The same is true of the auxiliary verb to be, except when used to form the passive voice or the progressive tenses; f.i. "Are you going to town?" becomes "Go you to the town?" ("(Va Vd al pueblo?"), "Where is Mary living?" becomes "Where lives Mary?" ("(D=nde vive Marfa?"). The English possessive case is not expressed in Spanish as in English. The 's or s' endings of English are expressed in Spanish by the use of the preposition de placed before the possessor; f.i. "The boy's book" becomes "The book of the boy" ("El libro del muchacho"). In Spanish a noun is never used as an adjective to show the material of which a thing is made, as it is in English. Instead, the object and material of which it is made are joined by the preposition de, as in "The straw hat" = "El sombrero de paja", "The silk shirt" = "La camisa de seda". English has only one verb to have. Spanish has two: tener and haber. Both are irregular in conjugation. Tener means to "possess". Haber is an auxiliary
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Friar Kelly, Son Ustedes, Examples Tengo, Gradually English, Rafael Seco, Ellitos Cuatro, Bouzet Lacoste, English Spanish, English Instead, Puerto-Ricans--and Chicanos, english language, el libro, real academia espa±ola, english speakers, madrid spain, english spanish, own language, real academia, academia espa±ola, de la, richards 1971, one's own language, el libro =, friar kelly undated, g=mez rea 1983,
Approximate Word count = 2944
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)