1. Explanation

When we say that an expression is correct, or that it is good English, we mean that it is one that is used by the best writers and speakers wherever English is spoken.

Some incorrect expressions are used by the careless or the uneducated in all places where English is spoken. "She spoke to Mary and I" is one of this sort. But there are other mistakes which are much more common in one place, or locality, than in others. These mistakes are called localisms, or provincialisms.

2. Review: like, as, as if, as though.

You have already learned that it is wrong to use like before a statement. This mistake used to be much more common in our Southern states than in the North. It was a Southern localism. It seems now to be spreading to all parts of the country. But the best writers and speakers still use as, as if, as though, or that instead of like before a statement.

Read these correct sentences to see if you should have made mistakes in any of them. If you find that you are in danger of using like when you should not, read them several times.

1. She talks like her mother.

2. She talks as her mother talks.

3. She writes like me.

4. She writes as I do.

5. This feels as if it were a good piece of cloth.

6. This feels as if it were cotton.

7. Don't act as he does.

8. Don't act like him.

9. She walks as if she were in a hurry.

10. I felt as if you were mistaken.

11. I felt that you were mistaken.

12. The air feels as if we were going to have a storm.

13. It seems as if we should have a storm.

14. Don't talk as if you were angry.

15. He writes as if he were discouraged.

16. It seems as if I couldn't go.

17. Treat him as if he were honest.

18. I feel as if I didn't understand this.

19. I feel that I don't understand this.

3. Other Examples Of Localisms

In our Western states, pack has come to be used for carry. Southerners also sometimes speak of packing a pail of water from the well or packing the baby to the house. Some Southerners have another provincialism for carry. It is tote.'

In some parts of the country we may hear these sentences: The cat wants in, The man wants off, instead of The cat wants to come in and The man wants to get off the car. These expressions sound very funny to persons from other parts of the country when they first hear them.

The use of as instead of than after rather is a common error in some places. These sentences are correct: J had rather go than stay, Hadn't you rather have a dog than a cat?

In every class, there are likely to be children whose parents have come from different parts of the United States and who have learned from them different ways of saying the same thing. One of these ways is probably a localism and should not be used. Your teacher will help you to find localisms in your own speech so that you can correct them. If you do not do this, you will be laughed at when you go away from home among strangers.