Right

Draft 1.2

The English language is oftentimes seen as a complex language compared to others in that many of the “most basic concepts in English are naggingly difficult to define” (Bill Bryson, 330). The English language arguably conforms to no set of rules; there is no clear right or wrong way to use the language, just opinion. In Bill Bryson’s “Good English and Bad English,” Bryson attempts to argue and prove to a broad, general audience that there are no valid or clear rules on how to use the English language. Bryson effectively persuades his audience of this point through the usage of specific examples of grammatical errors made by English scholars, grammatical facts, and his flippant, sarcastic tone.

The first of Bryson’s strategies in persuading his audience is through direct evidence that even the scholarly and proficient often misuse the English language. For example, H. W. Fowler, a contributing author to A Dictionary of Modern English was quoted to have said that “[prestige] is one of the few words that has had an experience opposite to that described in ‘Worsened Words’” (H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, second edition). Though Fowler is a credible authority, Fowler manages to use the English language incorrectly; he should have said, “one of the few words that have had” (Bryson, 331). Including this particular quote allows for the audience to realize that even credible figures, such as writers of English dictionaries, stumble over the complexities of the English language. This quote brings about a logos appeal to the audience because they are able to see that even the most sophisticated literary workers struggle to identify a correct way to use the English language. Bryson situates an if/then logical argument claiming that if Fowler and other English experts can not use grammar correctly, then how is the average English speaker expected to use grammar correctly. Bryson uses the mistakes of Fowler and other notable English scholars to...