OCT 16 — The recent Plain English Speaking Awards and Inspiring Teachers of English Award got me thinking about English, its usage and teaching.

I’m not sure if anyone has noticed but lately, it’s become trendy to use adjectives as nouns.

I first encountered this phenomenon a couple of years ago. While reviewing a draft prepared by a junior lawyer, I spotted an error. I highlighted the offending part to him. “My bad,” he acknowledged, hanging his head in contrition.

I blinked. “I beg your pardon?” I enquired, wondering if I had misheard or if I should add assault and battery upon the English language to his sins. “My bad,” he repeated earnestly.

“My bad”, I discovered, is the millennials’ equivalent of the time-honoured “Mea Culpa” or “My fault”. It is an American slang term originating from playground games. It has gained popularity here more recently.

We had formidable English teachers at Marymount Convent whose mission in life was to ensure that, if nothing else, we would speak English properly. One of my enduring Primary 4 memories is of sitting at my blue wooden desk in my green graph-paper uniform watching our teacher write out in white chalk on the blackboard the difference between nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

I can still hear her voice: “Girls, a verb is an action word. An adverb describes a verb. A noun is an object or a person. An adjective describes a noun.”

By those rules, “bad” was definitely an adjective, as in, “a bad day”. Having had those rules drummed into me since the tender age of 10, encountering “bad” as a noun left me feeling a little linguistically dislocated.

Lyrical confusion

The use of adjectives as nouns has become more ubiquitous. I heard a lovely song the other day, but was slightly confused by the title: Beneath Your Beautiful. Beneath your beautiful what? I wondered, thinking that it sounded really rather wrong on several levels. I waited for the noun to follow. But it turns out that was it. No noun.

Beneath Your Beautiful is the United Kingdom-chart-topping ballad by Labrinth and Emeli Sande. The guy asks the girl to let him see her real personality beyond her perfect physical appearance. Great song — but the first two lines of the chorus are guaranteed to drive all English teachers batty:

“Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?

“Would you let me see beneath your perfect?”

In the world of perfect grammar, it should, of course, be beauty (a noun), not beautiful (an adjective) and likewise perfection, not perfect. But, in showbiz, artistic licence trumps grammar.

Then there’s Jessie J’s latest lyrical offering, Excuse My Rude. Catchy song, but you’ll have to excuse not only the rude but also the grammar.

I recognise that language is a living thing and evolves over time. The English language, in particular, is extremely adaptable and new words are constantly introduced.

Consider “twerking”, which was unleashed with all the force of a Wrecking Ball on an unsuspecting (and still somewhat traumatised) public by Miley Cyrus at the recent Video Music Awards. It has since made its debut in the Oxford English Dictionary. Its origins are unclear but it’s apparently a combination of twisting and jerking.

In the interests of linguistic health, it may be better not to enquire too deeply into the etymology of “twerking”. However, its pedigree notwithstanding, “twerking” can at least be deployed interchangeably without offending grammar rules. The “-ing” component allows it to multi-task as a verb (she was twerking on the dance floor), a noun (twerking is a dance move) and an adjective (twerking dancers). So, new words that obey grammar rules are kosher.

However, blurred lines between adjectives and nouns are a cause for consternation — unless the word or phrase has passed into common acceptance as a colloquialism and is used knowingly with a sense of fun, affection or irony. (Time will tell if “my bad” makes it to that category.)

Language, a powerful key

Lest I be accused of being a grammar Grinch, I hasten to acknowledge that we do not speak Standard English all the time.

Slang, colloquialisms and the vernacular add colour and pithiness to everyday speech in a way that Standard English cannot. Indeed, a unique Singaporean characteristic is our ability to segue from English to Singlish and back without missing a beat.

However we should have, or aspire to have, the ability to speak proper English at will.

Language is the key to comprehension and, thus, to knowledge. With our mainstream education in English, a good command of the language gives access to the treasure trove of knowledge available in the English medium.

Like it or not, people form impressions based on how we speak. Professor Henry Higgins’ lament of “Why can’t the English?” in My Fair Lady was as much a social commentary as it was about the (mis)use of language. How we speak affects employability, comfort in social settings, self-confidence and image.

Language is also the currency of communication — through language, we can conduct transactions or mobilise the masses. It covers the mundane to the sublime. We can use it to move to anger or happiness, to belittle or encourage, to inspire or cast down. It can be used as a tool, wielded as a weapon or offered as a balm.

That is the power of language. With the Internet, this power is magnified manifold. Not surprisingly, communication has been identified as an essential skill for the 21st century.

An encouragement and exhortation, therefore, to those who are imparting English to our children: To quote the Bee Gees, “teach our children well”. In teaching English, you are not only teaching them the rules of grammar or vocabulary. You are giving them the access key to knowledge and the passport to the realms of literature, philosophy and intellectual discourse. You are giving them the means to express themselves and influence others.

Help them discover the infinite wonder and beauty of the language and all the joy that mastery of it can bring. In so doing, you are giving them a gift that will last a lifetime — and beyond. — Today

 

Indranee Rajah is Senior Minister of State for Education and Law.

 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.