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This study investigates the grammatical skills of typically developing Oromo-speaking preschool-age children and lays the foundation for a language assessment tool for Oromo, a Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia. The current study used a standard picture–based elicitation task that evaluated children's accuracy in producing grammatical utterances. Language samples were collected from 44 monolingual 3- to 4-year-old Oromo children with typical language development. The percentage of grammatical utterances (PGU) was computed and error types were analyzed. The average level of grammatical accuracy as measured by PGU was 69%, with a large amount of variability. The data for Oromo 3-year-olds showed a variety of infrequent error types. The results of the study provide crucial foundational knowledge on grammatical development in Oromo, which could form the basis of future language assessments and diagnostic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Field-testing is an essential yet often resource-intensive step in the development of high-quality educational assessments. I introduce an innovative method for field-testing newly written exam items by substituting human examinees with artificially intelligent (AI) examinees. The proposed approach is demonstrated using 466 four-option multiple-choice English grammar questions. Pre-trained transformer language models are fine-tuned based on the 2-parameter logistic (2PL) item response model to respond like human test-takers. Each AI examinee is associated with a latent ability θ, and the item text is used to predict response selection probabilities for each of the four response options. For the best modeling approach identified, the overall correlation between the true and predicted 2PL correct response probabilities was .82 (bias = 0.00, root mean squared error = 0.18). The study results were promising, showing that item response data generated from AI can be used to calculate item proportion correct, item discrimination, conduct item calibration with anchors, distractor analysis, dimensionality analysis, and latent trait scoring. However, the proposed approach did not achieve the level of accuracy obtainable with human examinee response data. If further refined, potential resource savings in transitioning from human to AI field-testing could be enormous. AI could shorten the field-testing timeline, prevent examinees from seeing low-quality field-test items in real exams, shorten test lengths, eliminate test security, item exposure, and sample size concerns, reduce overall cost, and help expand the item bank. Example Python code from this study is available on Github: https://github.com/hotakamaeda/ai_field_testing1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of early second-language (L2) acquisition on introduction of characters in narrative discourse by comparing 5- and 7-year-old monolingual (first-language [L1] = Turkish) and bilingual (L1 = Turkish, L2 = English) children. Turkish does not have a grammaticalized article system like English which enables to investigate specific influences. The findings revealed that monolingual and bilingual children used similar forms while introducing characters; however, for the Frog character, bilingual children used more appropriate referencing compared to monolinguals. These findings were discussed within the effects of L2 on L1 in terms of introducing characters as well as the amount of exposure to L2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Binding properties are difficult for learners to fully acquire. This study explored English-as-a-foreign-language learners' acquisition patterns of the three binding properties of English reflexives and the effectiveness of the Interface Hypothesis. Methodology: One hundred and twenty-two native speakers of Chinese, a language with different binding properties, participated in the study; they were categorized into low, intermediate and advanced groups according to an English proficiency test. They were read 32 stories of 2 to 5 sentences each and were required to provide a comment sentence instantiating the three binding properties; i.e. c-command, subject orientation and locality. Data and analysis: A mixed repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with group and individual results of the experimental task to ascertain whether there were significant differences across different binding properties and among the three proficiency groups. Findings: Results from a truth-value judgment task indicate that the within-groups difficulty order of the three distinct binding properties is that: (a) for the low-proficiency group, c-command was easier than locality and orientation; and (b) for the intermediate-proficiency and the high-proficiency groups, c-command was easier than locality which, in turn, was easier than orientation. Among the three proficiency-groups, four acquisition patterns were found, which standard Binding Theory and its extensions cannot adequately explain. Originality: This is the first study to provide a variable-dependent account. It is argued that success or failure in establishing interface relations in second language grammars is likely to depend on a number of variables, including the involvement of the syntax–lexicon interface, syntax–semantics interface and syntax–discourse interface. Implications: The research suggests that the acquisition of English reflexives is variable-dependent, but not domain-wide. Specifically, the relationship between the binder and anaphoric expression can be established between the anaphors and some of their potential antecedents in second language English grammars, but not others, lending support to the Interface Hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music played little part in the education of British children before 1853 when Edward Thring was appointed headmaster of Uppingham Grammar School in the English Midlands. Thring created an innovative holistic curriculum for the two dozen boys of this rural boarding school and he appointed a musician as the third addition to his staff to form a teaching faculty of five; by the time of Thring's death in 1887 and a school roll now three hundred, the full-time music team numbered six. Almost all came from Prussia: early appointments stayed only a year or two but later ones, including Paul David—"Music and Choir Master"—made Uppingham their permanent home. Over the course of four decades, David—a member of the Mendelssohn and Schumann circle, and friend of Brahms and Sterndale Bennett—raised music to a high level of distinction and a broad level of participation beyond all other schools and, through his lifelong friendship with Josef Joachim, he attracted many celebrated musicians to perform to and play alongside his boys. None of this, however, would have happened but for a chance meeting in Rome in 1852. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors conducted an integrative review of the research literature on the writing development, writing instruction, and writing assessment of young deaf children ages 3 to 8 years (or preschool through third grade) published between 1990 and 2012. A total of 17 studies were identified that met inclusion criteria. The analysis examined research problems, theoretical frames, research methodologies, and major findings across the body of work. Findings of the review indicated that much of the research has focused on spelling, and when studies examined writing development, the analyses were limited to the word level. Assessment of writing has been largely ignored. Results also indicated that two primary conceptual frameworks have dominated the field across the 22-year span, with divergent implications for pedagogy and practice. The researchers call for longitudinal studies that examine deaf children’s use of English grammar and syntax within connected discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first years of language development, toddlers coordinate multiple cues in order to acquire the plural form. The aim of this study was to manipulate object similarity as well as set size in order to determine whether these variables impact children’s comprehension of plurality. One-hundred-and-fifty children ranging in age from 22 to 36 months were provided puzzles with pieces containing arrays of similar or identical objects. Each puzzle was composed of pieces displaying sets of two, four, six, or eight items familiar to two-year-olds (e.g., chairs, dogs, shoes) alongside puzzle pieces depicting the singular form of the objects. It was predicted that large set sizes of identical objects would increase children’s comprehension of plurality. The results establish that smaller set sizes, not similarity, boost children’s comprehension of the plural form. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores US English speakers’ perception of subject–verb agreement variation by using self-paced reading and mouse tracking. Two experiments exposed participants to standard, nonstandard, and uncommon subject–verb combinations. Experiment 1 measures participants’ reading times, and experiment 2 measures their social judgments. The standard forms are [singular+doesn’t] and [plural+don’t]. The nonstandard form is [singular+don’t], which is attested widely across English varieties; the “uncommon” form was [plural+doesn’t]. Experiment 1 was a self-paced reading experiment, wherein participants read sentences word by word at their own pace. Reading times were slowed the most for uncommon agreement, and nonstandard agreement was also processed more slowly than standard agreement, showing that processing is sensitive to sociolinguistic variation. Experiment 2 was a mouse-tracking experiment, wherein participants read sentences and then chose between two photographs to indicate whether a high- or low-status speaker was more likely to say the sentence. Sentences with the nonstandard and uncommon patterns were more likely to be assigned to low-status speakers than were standard sentences. However, participants’ mouse movements showed that the decision-making processes for uncommon sentences were more like those of standard sentences. Implications for the understanding of sociolinguistic knowledge are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article investigates the discourse functions of nonverbal appositives: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and adjective phrases in apposition to a preceding nominal unit. Given the many similarities between nonverbal appositives and appositive relative clauses, the discourse functions of the latter serve as a starting point for an evaluation of the discourse functions of the former. More precisely, we compare our 600-token corpus of nonverbal appositives with Loock’s taxonomy of discourse functions for appositive relative clauses. The taxonomy is then modified to accommodate the nonverbal appositives that do not fit the taxonomy. Correlations with a series of linguistic parameters are established. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study focuses on word order patterns in English personal binomials and argues that conjunct order in this binomial type is partly subject to other factors than those shown in earlier research on binomials in general. On the theoretical level, mixed-gender personal binomials are discussed as linguistic instantiations of dominance and difference thinking in relation to gender. On the empirical level, the article presents an in-depth study of personal binomials in the written component of the BNC. The factor with the highest impact on conjunct order is found to be lexical gender. Moreover, the modifying influence of a range of other factors is tested. Among these are factors that have proven relevant in earlier research on word order in binomials (phonology, orthography, conjunct frequency) as well as factors that have so far not or only sporadically been tested (lexical field, morphology, sex of author, target audience sex). Finally, the findings are related to more recent theoretical discussions of the relationship between language and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article uses a case study of scientific English from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries to test the traditional demarcation between restrictive and nonrestrictive adnominal relatives and to reconsider appropriate methods for analyzing such historical data. After an initial classification of some 1,160 clauses from the ARCHER corpus using the traditional dichotomy, alternative proposals for analyzing relative clauses are reviewed in the light of problematic examples. The concept of “aspective” relatives is adopted: those having most of the formal and pragmatic hallmarks of restrictive relatives while not strictly restrictive in the set-theoretic sense. We identify these with the clauses in present-day English that are not restrictive but that Huddleston, Pullum, and Peterson include under the heading “integrated.” We add a fourth, minor type, “continuative.” Nevertheless our data present problems even for a four-way classification. We demonstrate how some analytic difficulties are the result of changes in text-type-specific style and conventions over time, plus general diachronic change, but also that some examples genuinely resist hard-and-fast classification. We therefore treat our classes as overlapping bands on a one-dimensional gradient, testing the revised classification in detail on our seventeenth-century data. The overlaps are less numerous than any of the three main types (restrictive, aspective, and nonrestrictive), but they help to reduce the number of unclear cases from over a quarter of the total in our initial classification to a mere 1 percent. We distinguish carefully between vagueness (underspecified examples where the interpretation is in no doubt) and ambiguity (involving a choice between interpretations that depends on missing information). We suggest that our classification might be more widely applicable to the study of relative clauses. By and large, modern Sprachgefühl can be used cautiously alongside other, more objective tests to classify relatives in historical scientific texts—a point of more general theoretical relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that historical linguistic change is mediated by register differences at a highly specific level. As a result, seemingly minor differences in register can correspond to meaningful and systematic differences in the patterns of linguistic change. Two specific case studies of twentieth-century historical change are presented. The first explores variation among sub-registers of news reportage, comparing the patterns of change in magazine articles from Time magazine to those found in newspaper articles from the New York Times. This case study shows that the differing readerships and purposes of magazines versus newspapers result in different historical-linguistic patterns of use. The second case study then explores variation among sub-registers of academic research writing. This study shows how differences associated with academic discipline (science vs. social science vs. humanities) correspond to systematically different trends in historical change. Even more surprising, this study shows that science articles published in journals aimed at multidisciplinary audiences differ from articles published in journals targeted toward specialized audiences. In the conclusion, we briefly consider the theoretical issue of whether these case studies illustrate historical change within a register or change to new registers. However, the primary goal of the article is methodological, to argue for more attention to register differences in corpus-based historical research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The presence of non-adult patterns of omission/production of functional categories has occupied a central place in both monolingual and bilingual child language acquisition research. In bilingual acquisition a central learnability issue has been to determine whether interlinguistic influence would interact with those patterns. In this article, the authors analyse the omission/production of subject pronouns in the developing Spanish grammar and of copula be in the developing English grammar of two English–Spanish simultaneous bilingual children in order to address the issues of the locus and directionality of interlinguistic influence. The authors argue that the directionality of interlinguistic influence is determined by the need to implement core operations of the computational system and that the lexical–semantic interface is an area of the grammar where interlinguistic influence occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the history of the proscription of the English split infinitive and presents a corpus-based investigation of its present usage and distribution across registers in American English. Using archival research, the article traces the history of the proscription and offers historical examples of its use. Contrary to popular belief, the historical review of prescriptive sources reveals not a Latin origin for the proscription but a German one. Thus, an ideology of Teutonic kinship seems to have at least partially driven the proscription of the split infinitive. Latin-based proscriptions seemed not to have existed in written form, or if they did, they did not survive. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) was used to investigate the presence of multiword lexical items including the split infinitive. Combinations of “to + adverb” were identified in the different COCA registers. Distinct bigrams and trigrams emerge in the different registers of the COCA, but it does not seem to be the case that oral registers, where the force of the proscription would be less strong, influence the emergence of split infinitive patterns in written registers. The results are discussed within the framework of prescriptivist ideology, grammaticalization, and idiomaticity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is argued that, though combinatoriality is the characteristic trait of human language, non-compositional forms also play an important role in adult grammars and that they plausibly play an important role in child language development, as well. Specific evidence for this position comes from the utility of assuming that “did” in uninverted child English questions such as “Where you did go?” is, in fact, a non-compositional form that must occur in a syntactic position below the subject because it lacks either tense or agreement. The advantage of such a formulation is that it accounts for the occurrence of both “Optional Infinitive” verbs and the “Optional Inversion” of auxiliary verbs in child English, as a function of one underlying factor: developing verb finiteness. This account hinges on the existence of non-compositional forms in child grammars. Such an account is consistent with the Continuity Hypothesis. In this case, assuming that non-compositional forms exist and play an important role in child language allows for a unified explanation of two otherwise unrelated forms. A pesar de que la combinatorialidad es el rasgo más característico del lenguaje humano, las formas no-composicionales también juegan un papel importante tanto en las gramáticas adultas como en el desarrollo del lenguaje de los niños. La evidencia específica a favor de esta postura viene de la utilidad de asumir que el verbo auxiliar “did” en las preguntas no invertidas del inglés hablado por niños, tales como “Where you did go?” es, de hecho, una forma no-composicional que debe ocupar una posición sintáctica por debajo del sujeto porque carece o de tiempo verbal o de concordancia. La ventaja de esta hipótesis es que explica tanto el fenómeno de los verbos no finitos como el de las preguntas no invertidas en el inglés hablado por niños en función de un factor: la finitud de los verbos. Esta explicación se basa en la suposición de que existen formas no-composicionales en las gramáticas de los niños. Una explicación de esta índole es consistente con la hipótesis de la continuidad. En este caso, la suposición de que existen formas no-composicionales y que éstas juegan un papel importante en el lenguaje de los niños, permite una explicación unificada de dos fenómenos que de otra manera no parecerían tener ningún vínculo entre sí. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with sociolinguist, linguist and co-founder of modern sociolinguistics Walt Wolfram is presented. He cites his work on African American English, his Appalachian English perspectives in remnant varieties and program development in schools as his most important works. He explains the present and possible future changes in early variationism, and comments on how sociolinguistics have changed in the past four decades.

A current suggestion in the variationist literature is that the predominance of forms like we was in nonstandard varieties of English is predictable in that was-generalization represents a case of the "default singular." I argue that while the principle of the default singular is a sound one, it is not appropriate as an explanation for was-generalization. What is involved is not a matter of singular versus plural but of r-forms of the past tense of to be versus s-forms, with forms like were, war, wor representing the r-variant and was, wiz, wus the s-variant. The ancient Germanic s/r alternation has been leveled out in most dialects over the past millennium. Examination of Germanic dialects shows that in very many cases, it is the r-forms that have survived. If some general principle were at work, we would expect s-forms to predominate. The history of the Germanic dialects as a whole shows that we are dealing with analogical leveling that does not especially favor either the s-forms or the r-forms. The term default singular has no explanatory value in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acquisition of language has long stood as a challenge to general learning accounts, leading many theorists to propose domain-specific knowledge and processes to explain language acquisition. Here we review evidence that analogical comparison is instrumental in language learning, suggesting a larger role for general learning processes in the acquisition of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the traditional account of habitual aspect in English, the only marker of habituality is will, with its past tense, would. Used to functions as a kind of anti-presentperfect tense, contrasting past states of affairs with present ones. In certain contexts, various tenses, and not merely the simple ones, may receive habitual interpretations, but these are not their meanings. Generic readings are contextual interpretations; there are no markers of generic aspect in English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pronoun pattern that is common in both spoken and written English is some form of "they" with singular, generic antecedents, as in, "Everyone was so pleased with themselves." This article addresses the question of how long such a pattern has been in the language and how a pattern that clearly violates number agreement could become so ubiquitous. An examination of recent scholarship as well as the historical record reveals that the origins of this usage rest in the fourteenth century and that its frequency has increased since then. Using current theories of agreement, the author presents a hypothesis for how and when this pattern could have entered the language. Further examination of the historical record supports the hypothesis that loss of grammatical gender in the thirteenth century was crucial for the introduction of generic they into the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the two forms of the verb-particle construction in American English, when combined with a non-pronomial direct object. It states that in a phrase, the particle can either precede or follow the object. It presents experiments to study the factors affecting particle placement and factors of the verb-particle combination hypothesized in favor of the verb and particle. The experiments conducted on 224 subjects reveal that the particle tends to be contactual with the verb, when the verb-particle combination is phonologically or semantically cohesive.

The article focuses on some of the factors that affect the grammatical forms of the English language committed by most people. It has been said that one of the main reasons is ignorance, and that a person's training or experience in the use of language may have been too limited to provide him with an adequate knowledge of such language. It has pointed out that the analysis of errors in grammar will often show that the fault is really a confusion of different patterns of thought.

The article focuses on changes taking place in the curricula of elementary schools and junior high schools with respect to grammar. It is noted that the curriculum of the structure of English has been postponed to the seventh grade. Grades 9 through 11 or 12 are important for teaching grammar. It is important to set the curriculum for grammar to emphasize the usage of English as in communication.

The article comments on grammatical custom in the English language that assumes the superiority of men over women in the U.S. in 1939. The author asserts that the improving status of women in society is giving rise to the generic feminine, predicting that soon it will be grammatically correct to say "Everyone is expected to do her work" instead of "Everyone is expected to do his work."

This article examines the status of Latin reading in U.S. secondary schools in 1913. The aim for introductory lessons of Latin is discussed, as well as teaching strategies. There are benefits associated with a properly taught Latin. Information is presented on some oral exercises for Latin. English grammar have a role in every lesson.

The article discusses the use of several disputed locutions in the U.S. It talks about the facts that needs to be gathered that may provide point during the dispute as well as examined the case of using doesn't and don't. It also emphasizes the effects of these expressions to the technicalities of grammar thought in schools and universities.

The article discusses the nature and classification of sentences. The author defines a sentence as the complete expression in words of a thought, judgment or statement. She emphasizes that sentence forms without verbs are often effective for expressing emotion of every sort. She classifies sentences into statements, questions, and desires.

The article focuses on the English requirements in the colleges in the U.S. The report of the Conference on Modifications of the College English Requirements was published and circulars were circulated to get the opinions in this respect. A full text of this requirement was decided according to which, certain number of books were suggested for reading and the exam would include composition of a paragraph along with testing English grammar skills. Many other specifications were also given.

The article presents the views of the author on the comments of a council member of the National Education Association, on her opinion about English grammar. The council member was unable to comprehend that every sentence consists a subject, a copula and a predicate. Gowdy said that every declarative statement must include a subject of thought, an attribute of thought and assert the relation between the two, which were respectively called, the subject, the predicate attribute and the copula.

This article presents the author's views on the effective teaching of English language and grammar in grammar grades. The course in English in high schools presupposes that pupil has learned the basics of the language including a practice in expressing his own thought. This presupposed learning is the course of English in grammar grades. The author holds that theory is of no significance in the absence of proper practice.

The article discusses the nature of English grammar. The English grammar belongs to the natural science of group of subjects which are experimental and inductive. A comparison of the nature of language and arithmetic is given. When authors of English grammar construct a special definition of rule for an idiom of speech, they only do great harm to the subject.

The article comments on a statement issued by a schoolmaster who exerted efforts to prove that language lessons are not effective as a means of teaching language. The professor said that such a method of instruction should be confined to the first, second and third grades of public schools. It emphasizes that a child who grows up in an environment of correct English grammar will use the language correctly. It suggests ways to teach writing, including the use of capital letters, the period and the interrogation mark.

The article presents tips on the proper usage of some English words. The "of" in "worthy of" should not be removed. "Would rather" is better than "had rather." "Had better" should be used instead of "would better." "Ain't" should never be used. "Rarely" is an adverb and is not to be used as an adjective. "Will you have dinner" is better than "Will you take dinner."Oral" refers to spoken words.

The article discusses the benefits of studying English grammar. English Grammar disciplines the mind and prepares a person who wants to study other languages. Moreover, it allows a person to use English better and helps significantly in the interpretation of literature. Lastly, the study of grammar provides students with an indispensable terminology.

The article seeks to explain the uncertainty surrounding William Shakespeare's use of the term "strange invisible perfume" to describe Cleopatra. It is implied that the inclusion of "invisible" as it applies to "perfume" might not seem significant to modern audiences. Examination of the Shakespearean canon is sufficient to clarify the source of differentiation in question by revealing an extremely relevant discrepancy of the understandings of perfumes. Moreover, the English verb "to perfume" contrasts sharply with the modern English usage and identifies visibility as a source of differentiation between perfume-types.

Discusses three measures of English morphology namely, the Berry-Talbot Comprehension of Grammar, the Grammatic Closure subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities and the Grammatic Completion subtest of the Test of Language Development. Inflectional and derivational types of morphological rules; Comparison of the three measures in terms of test reliability, scoring procedures, format and types of scores.

The article reports on Utah's News-Advocate of Price's program to develop good English among every school in the county. The association offers a dollar each week for the best news items from the schools of the county, while fifty cents for the second best. Items will be graded on its importance, character, how worded, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.

The article applauds the brilliance of U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in tackling any subject, particularly his expertise in English grammar and sentence construction.

The article provides information on the status of public schools in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1816. There are 856 students during the year. Of the 856 students, 476 took writing course while 85 took English grammar. It is said that most of the geography students were in one school where the teacher was a faddist.

The article focuses on the request of an English teacher in high school to a publishing house to allow her to read its manuscripts as she believed it would aid them in perfecting English usage in textbooks. She stressed the incorrect use of the word "put in" that would have been prevented had they allow her to read the documents.

The article compares the attitudes of Chestine Gowdy, teacher of English in the State Normal school at Normal, Illinois with a member in the council of the National Education Association. Gowdy read masterpieces for her grammar inspiration whereas the council member read elementary grammars. The council member believed that a child should be given a picture and then he should draw it on a transparent paper placed over it. However, Gowdy wanted that a child should try to draw what he thinks.

The article presents a summary of facts of the English language and the principles in usage. Part one discusses about words including chirography, capital letters and spelling. Abbreviations, English idioms and grammatical inflections were listed under the heading language and grammar. Moreover, external forms of writing, purpose and structure of composition were also presented.

The article offers tips on how to improve the memory of students in remembering the rules of word capitalization for titles and headings composition. The author emphasizes that first word should always be capitalized and all other words except conjunctions, articles, and prepositions (CAP). He suggests the use of mnemonics and provides the acronym CAP which could be used to remember the exemptions of the capitalization in titles and headings.

The article focuses on the earlier English dictionaries published in the U.S. The very first English dictionary entitled "Table Alphabeticall of Hard Words," was prepared by Robert Cawdrey and published in 1604. It presents an overview of the English dictionary published by Henry Cockeram in 1623. It cites that playwright William Shakespeare did not have an English grammar.

The article presents information on voice in the English grammar. Voice is a form of verb that shows whether the subject represents the subject of the verb or the action which the verb expresses. The object of the active voice is the subject of the passive voice. There are verbs that have no change of voice, and the forms of these are all active voice. Continuous action is not foreign to the passive voice, even if progressive verb-phrases belong to the active voice of the verb.

The article argues that the contraction "ain't" should not be used by school children because it is against English grammar rules. Every grammar class in the U.S. should make sure that they do not use the word "ain't." This habit can only be eliminated if school children have the courage to say "isn't" on the playground.

The article discusses the use of adverbs and adjectives with verbs. The phrase I feel bad comprehends different specific conditions of the body and mind such as sick, weak or languid. The author does not like the use of the word bad in the phrase instead he prefers to use words such as ill, uncomfortable, grieved or sad.