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GCSE · Grammar

Y10.5 Standard English vs Dialect

Calculators not allowed · about 60 minutes

Total Marks

Name: _______________________________ Date: ____ / ____ / ______

Answer all questions in full sentences where required. Read the source text before you start Question 1.

Sunday at Nan's

Written for Revision Library (original, copyright-free). A short first-person narrative extract, invented for this resource to give genuine, respectfully written examples of a regional English dialect in dialogue, framed by Standard English narration.

01 Every Sunday, without fail, my nan expects the whole family for dinner at

02 one o'clock sharp, and every Sunday, without fail, somebody arrives at

03 half past. This week it was my cousin Danny, ambling through the back

04 door twenty minutes late with an apology already forming on his lips.

05 'You're late again,' said Nan, not looking up from the potatoes. 'I've

06 told youse a hundred times, one o'clock means one o'clock, not one

07 o'clock whenever it suits.'

08 'Sorry, Nan,' Danny said. 'The bus never come.'

09 'Aye, well, it never comes for nobody round here neither,' Nan said,

10 'so you'd best set off earlier next time, hadn't you.'

11 Nan talks the way she has always talked, the way her own mother talked

12 before her: broad, quick, and shaped by fifty years on the same South

13 Yorkshire street. She drops her aitches when she is cross, doubles up

14 her negatives when she wants to make a point, and calls anyone she

15 loves 'love,' whether she has met them once or raised them from birth.

16 My teacher would mark every one of Nan's sentences in red pen, and my

17 nan would not care in the slightest, because she is not writing an

18 essay. She is talking to her family, in the language that raised her,

19 and it does its job perfectly.

20 At dinner, she told us about Mrs Ogilvie two doors down, who 'hasn't

21 got nowt better to do than watch the street through her nets,' and

22 about the new bin collection times, which she reckoned were 'a right

23 carry-on and no mistake.' Danny, who is training to be a solicitor,

24 speaks at work in a careful, rounded voice he seems to have borrowed

25 from a radio announcer, and tried gently correcting her. 'It's

26 "anything," Nan, not "nowt."'

27 'It's nowt to me what you call it,' Nan said, without missing a beat,

28 passing him the gravy, 'so long as you eat your dinner while it's hot.'

29 Later, when Danny drafted a work email at the kitchen table, Nan read

30 it over his shoulder and pronounced it 'proper posh talk, that,' full

31 of words she said she would never use down the market but which she

32 agreed looked exactly right on a letter to a client. She is not wrong.

33 The email needs to be understood by a stranger who has never met Danny

34 and will judge his firm by every line of it. The kitchen does not need

35 any such thing. It already knows him.

Read again lines 1 to 22 of the source text. List four features of the way Nan speaks that are grammatically different from Standard English, using her own words as evidence.

(Total for Question 1 is 4 marks)

For each quotation below, identify what it shows about Nan's grammar.

(a)'The bus never come.'(1)

A) a Standard English past tense
B) a non-standard past-tense verb form
C) a present tense used correctly

(b)'it never comes for nobody round here neither'(1)

A) a single negative
B) multiple (double) negation
C) the passive voice

(c)'I've told youse a hundred times'(1)

A) 'youse' is a regional plural form of 'you'
B) 'youse' is a spelling mistake for 'you'
C) 'youse' is a proper noun

(d)'hasn't got nowt better to do'(1)

A) 'nowt' is formal Standard English vocabulary
B) 'nowt' is a dialect word meaning 'nothing', combined with a double negative
C) 'nowt' is a contraction of 'not'

(Total for Question 2 is 4 marks)

Below are four words or phrases that Nan uses in the source text. Complete the table by giving the Standard English meaning of each one.

Word or phrase from the text	Standard English meaning
nowt
aye
youse
a right carry-on

(Total for Question 3 is 4 marks)

Here are eight statements about the source text and about dialect in general. Choose the FOUR statements that are TRUE.
A. Dialect is a systematic, rule-governed form of English, not simply incorrect grammar.
B. The source text states that Standard English is the only correct form of English and that every other form is a mistake.
C. Danny speaks, at work, in a careful, rounded voice that he seems to have borrowed from a radio announcer.
D. Nan immediately changes 'nowt' to 'anything' as soon as Danny corrects her.
E. The source text states that Nan's way of talking 'does its job perfectly' when she is with her family.
F. Nan refuses to admit that the formal language in Danny's email is appropriate for its purpose.
G. The narrator says that a teacher would mark every one of Nan's sentences in red pen.
H. According to the source text, Nan's family always speak in careful, formal Standard English at Sunday dinner.

(Total for Question 4 is 4 marks)

Explain why it would be inaccurate to describe Nan's way of speaking simply as 'bad English'. Use ideas from the whole passage to support your answer.

(Total for Question 5 is 3 marks)

Explain what lines 15 to 19 suggest about the difference between how Nan's teacher and the narrator each view her way of talking.

(Total for Question 6 is 4 marks)

For each situation below, decide whether Standard English would typically be expected, or whether informal/dialect speech would usually be perfectly appropriate.

(a)Answering a question in a GCSE English exam.(1)

A) Standard English typically expected
B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine

(b)Chatting with your nan in her kitchen on a Sunday.(1)

A) Standard English typically expected
B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine

(c)Emailing a new client for work.(1)

A) Standard English typically expected
B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine

(d)Texting a close friend about weekend plans.(1)

A) Standard English typically expected
B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine

(Total for Question 7 is 4 marks)

The passage shows Danny moving between two different ways of speaking: his usual talk around the family, and the 'careful, rounded voice' he uses for work and for his email. Explain what this suggests about how people choose language depending on the situation they are in (sometimes called 'code-switching').

(Total for Question 8 is 2 marks)

Rewrite each sentence below in Standard English, keeping the meaning exactly the same. These are examples of dialect grammar, following their own consistent rules, not random errors to mock.

(a)'The bus never come.'(2)

(b)'It never comes for nobody round here neither.'(2)

(c)'I've told youse a hundred times.'(2)

(Total for Question 9 is 6 marks)

Choose the Standard English form in each pair.

(a)A) We was tired after the walk.
B) We were tired after the walk.(1)

(b)A) He don't like it.
B) He doesn't like it.(1)

(c)A) I done my homework.
B) I did my homework.(1)

(d)A) We ain't got none.
B) We haven't got any.(1)

(Total for Question 10 is 4 marks)

Below is a sentence written the way someone might say it out loud, with several features that would need to change for formal, written Standard English. Rewrite it correctly, correcting every feature you can find.

'we was sat in nans kitchen when danny said the meetings been moved to tuesday and I never told nobody about it'

(Total for Question 11 is 6 marks)

Identify and correct the one grammatical error in this sentence: 'They was late for the bus.'

(Total for Question 12 is 2 marks)

Write a short scene (approximately 100 to 150 words) in which two characters discuss weekend plans. One character should speak in Standard English throughout. The other should speak in a regional dialect of your own invention (do not simply copy Nan's dialect from the source text). Show that you understand the difference between dialect grammar and Standard English grammar by using at least two consistent, believable non-standard grammatical features for the dialect-speaking character throughout.

(Total for Question 13 is 10 marks)

Before you write your answer to Question 15, complete a short plan for your speech.

(a)Identify the form of the writing.(1)

(b)Identify the audience for the writing.(1)

(c)Identify the purpose of the writing.(1)

(Total for Question 14 is 3 marks)

Some people think teachers and employers should always correct regional dialect grammar, because Standard English is the only 'proper' way to speak.
Write a speech to be read out at a school assembly, giving your point of view on this statement. In your speech, you may refer to ideas about dialect and Standard English suggested by the passage about Nan, but you must not copy its wording.
(8 marks are available for the content and organisation of your speech, and 6 marks for the technical accuracy of your writing.)

(Total for Question 15 is 14 marks)

Mark scheme · Y10.5 Standard English vs Dialect

Question 1

B1 identifies the use of 'youse' as a regional plural form of 'you' (oe)
B1 identifies the non-standard past-tense verb form 'come' instead of 'came' ('The bus never come')
B1 identifies multiple/double negation, e.g. 'it never comes for nobody round here neither'
B1 identifies the double negative and dialect word in 'hasn't got nowt better to do'
Answer: Any four of: 'youse' used as a plural form of 'you'; the non-standard past tense 'come' instead of 'came'; multiple negation in 'never comes for nobody...neither'; the double negative and dialect word in 'hasn't got nowt better to do'.

Question 2

(a) B1 B) a non-standard past-tense verb form
(a) Answer: B
(b) B1 B) multiple (double) negation
(b) Answer: B
(c) B1 A) 'youse' is a regional plural form of 'you'
(c) Answer: A
(d) B1 B) 'nowt' is a dialect word meaning 'nothing', combined with a double negative
(d) Answer: B

Question 3

B1 nowt = nothing
B1 aye = yes
B1 youse = you (plural form of 'you')
B1 a right carry-on = a great fuss/an annoying, chaotic business
Answer: nowt = nothing; aye = yes; youse = you (plural); a right carry-on = a great fuss or annoying business.

Question 4

B1 A selected (true)
B1 C selected (true)
B1 E selected (true)
B1 G selected (true)
Answer: A, C, E and G are true. B is false (the text never claims this, and its whole argument works against this view); D is false (Nan says 'It's nowt to me what you call it' and does not change her word); F is false (she agrees the email 'looked exactly right on a letter to a client'); H is false (Nan speaks in dialect at dinner throughout).

Question 5

B1 identifies that dialect is a genuine, structured variety of English with its own consistent patterns, not random error (oe)
B1 supports this with reference to the passage, e.g. that Nan's language 'does its job perfectly' with her family, or is 'the language that raised her' (oe)
B1 develops the idea that correctness depends on context and purpose, e.g. Standard English is expected in formal writing such as an email to a client, but this does not make Nan's everyday speech wrong (oe)
Answer: Nan's speech follows the consistent rules of a real regional dialect rather than being randomly wrong; the passage shows it 'does its job perfectly' for talking to her family. Standard English is simply the form expected in formal, written contexts like Danny's client email, not an absolute standard that makes every other form of English incorrect.

Question 6

B1 identifies that the teacher would 'mark every one of Nan's sentences in red pen', implying a school context judges her grammar as wrong
B1 identifies that Nan 'would not care', showing she does not see her own speech as inferior
B1 explains that the narrator frames this positively, stating that Nan's language 'does its job perfectly' for its actual purpose
B1 develops the idea that this contrast suggests correctness is relative to purpose and audience, not an absolute standard (oe)
Answer: The teacher represents a strict, exam-based view that would mark Nan's speech as full of errors, but Nan herself is untroubled, because she is not writing an essay. The narrator's comment that her language 'does its job perfectly' shows the writer's own view: that Nan's grammar is only 'wrong' by the standard of a context (school writing) she is not actually operating in, suggesting correctness depends on purpose and audience rather than being fixed.

Question 7

(a) B1 A) Standard English typically expected
(a) Answer: A
(b) B1 B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine
(b) Answer: B
(c) B1 A) Standard English typically expected
(c) Answer: A
(d) B1 B) Informal/dialect speech usually fine
(d) Answer: B

Question 8

B1 identifies that Danny uses a different, more formal register for work/writing than for talking with his family (oe)
B1 explains that this shows speakers often deliberately adapt or switch their language to suit their audience and purpose, rather than one form being 'correct' in every situation (oe)
Answer: Danny speaks in a careful, rounded voice for work and writes formally in his client email, but is comfortable with Nan's dialect at the family table. This shows that fluent speakers can deliberately switch between different forms of English depending on their audience and purpose, rather than only ever having one 'correct' way of speaking.

Question 9

(a) B1 identifies 'come' as the non-standard past-tense form
(a) B1 correct rewrite: 'The bus never came.', cao
(a) Answer: The bus never came.
(b) B1 identifies the multiple negation across 'never...nobody...neither'
(b) B1 correct rewrite using single negation, e.g. 'It never comes for anybody round here either.', cao
(b) Answer: It never comes for anybody round here either.
(c) B1 identifies 'youse' as the non-standard plural form of 'you'
(c) B1 correct rewrite, e.g. 'I've told you all a hundred times.', cao
(c) Answer: I've told you all a hundred times.

Question 10

(a) B1 B
(a) Answer: B
(b) B1 B
(b) Answer: B
(c) B1 B
(c) Answer: B
(d) B1 B
(d) Answer: B

Question 11

B1 capital letter added at the start of the sentence: 'We'
B1 subject-verb agreement corrected: 'was' changed to 'were' to agree with the plural subject 'we'
B1 possessive apostrophe added and proper noun capitalised: 'nans' becomes 'Nan's'
B1 proper nouns capitalised: 'danny' becomes 'Danny' and 'tuesday' becomes 'Tuesday'
B1 contraction apostrophe added: 'meetings' becomes 'meeting's' (meeting has)
B1 double negation corrected to single negation: 'never told nobody' becomes 'never told anybody', with appropriate punctuation added at the sentence boundary/before 'and'
Answer: We were sat in Nan's kitchen when Danny said the meeting's been moved to Tuesday, and I never told anybody about it.

Question 12

B1 identifies 'was' as the non-standard verb form for the plural subject 'they'
B1 correct rewrite: 'They were late for the bus.', cao
Answer: They were late for the bus.

Question 13

Content and organisation (AO5)
- Level 1 (1-3): Simple dialogue with little sense of two distinct characters; limited organisation and little awareness of the task's requirements.
- Level 2 (4-6): Convincing, well-organised dialogue with clearly differentiated voices for the two characters and a clear sense of scene and purpose.
Technical accuracy and consistency of invented dialect (AO6)
- Level 1 (1-2): One or two non-standard grammatical features attempted, with inconsistent or inaccurate use; the Standard English speaker's grammar may also contain errors.
- Level 2 (3-4): At least two clear, consistent and accurately controlled non-standard grammatical features used for the dialect-speaking character throughout, alongside accurate Standard English grammar, punctuation and direct speech for the other character.

Question 14

(a) B1 identifies the form as a speech (oe)
(a) Answer: A speech.
(b) B1 identifies the audience as students and staff at a school assembly (oe)
(b) Answer: Students and staff listening at a school assembly.
(c) B1 identifies the purpose as to argue/persuade the audience of a personal viewpoint on the given statement (oe)
(c) Answer: To argue/persuade the audience of a personal point of view on the statement about correcting dialect.

Question 15

Content and organisation (AO5)
- Level 1 (1-3): Simple, limited communication of a viewpoint; little sense of speech conventions such as addressing the audience directly, and little organisation.
- Level 2 (4-6): Clear communication of a viewpoint, with some appropriate speech techniques (e.g. direct address, a rhetorical question) and generally clear organisation.
- Level 3 (7-8): Convincing, well-organised speech with sustained, appropriate techniques (e.g. direct address, rhetorical questions, repetition for effect) and a clearly developed, persuasive argument engaging seriously with ideas about dialect and Standard English.
Technical accuracy (AO6)
- Level 1 (1-2): Occasional accurate spelling and punctuation. Simple sentence structures attempted, with limited variety. Limited or inconsistent use of Standard English forms.
- Level 2 (3-4): Some accurate spelling and punctuation. Some control of a range of sentence structures. Generally accurate use of Standard English, with occasional errors.
- Level 3 (5-6): Consistently accurate spelling and punctuation. Wide, controlled range of sentence structures used confidently for effect. Consistently accurate use of Standard English throughout.

Standard English vs Dialect - Worksheets, Questions and Revision