The 3 Ds

Deficit

-Robin Lackoff (1975)

-women use many techniques in their speech that are deficient to men's speech. These include:

• fillers
• hedges
• intensifiers
• hyper-correct grammar
• tag questions
• super-polite forms
• apologise more
• speak less frequently
• avoid coarse language or expletives
• indirect requests
• speak in italics

-Jenny Cheshire (1982)

-Boys use more non-standard forms than girls.

-Pamela Fishman (1983)

-Tag questions- Lackoff claimed they represent uncertainty, Fishman says they are used to initiate conversation

-She refers to setting the agenda as the 'conversational shitwork' and says men are reluctant to do this as they perceive to be the dominant role 

Dominance

-Zimmerman & West (1975)

-men dominate a conversation by using more interruptions

-Deborah Cameron (1995)

-challenges views, says that women do in fact challenge each other

Difference

-Deborah Tannen (1990)

-Men and women speak very differently in conversation, six contrasts to show this difference:

• Status vs. support
• independence vs. intimacy
• advice vs. understanding
• information vs. feelings
• orders vs. proposals
• conflict vs. compromise

-Janet Hyde (2005)

-proposed a 'gender similarities hypothesis'

-"substantially more similarities than differences...and where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors for example education, occupation etc."

-argument

What language barrier? - The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books

• The most successful exponents of this formula, such as Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand, and John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, have topped the bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic.
• The idea that men and women "speak different languages" has itself become a dogma, treated not as a hypothesis to be investigated or as a claim to be adjudicated, but as an unquestioned article of faith

Example papers

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-SQP.PDF
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-COM.PDF
http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77012-CEX.PDF

Bristol Uni guide to grammar

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/index.htm

1. Handy for revision
2. Punctuation - structure (paragraphs, style, graphology, morphology, discourse, FPA, syntax/ utterances, functions of syntax- imperative, command, interrogative, explanative, declarative)
3. Common confusions  (figurative language, lexis, register, semantics, pragmatics)
4. Exam responses (PEE)
5. Other pitfalls and problems (conjunctions, split infinitives, grammar, lexis)
6. Style (FPA)
7. Handy for revision

1. The colon
   To introduce an idea or a list
   The Semicolon
   If you are going to use a semicolon to connect two clauses, it is very important that the two clauses are both independent. That means that each clause has to be able to stand alone and make complete sense without the other. If either one cannot stand alone, a semi-colon cannot be used. They also need to be about  related topics.
   The comma
   To separate the elements in a list of three or more items
   Before certain conjunctions
   To separate introductory elements in a sentence
   To separate parenthetical (aside) elements in a sentence
   To separate direct speech or quoted elements from the rest of the sentence
   Commas are used to separate elements in a sentence that express contrast
   Commas are used for typographical reasons to separate dates and years, towns and counties etc
   Commas are used to separate several adjectives
2. Common confusions
   Who/Whom?
   This seems to cause some problems but can be easily sorted out. Essentially, who is a subject pronoun and should be used to replace the subject of the verb. Whom is an object pronoun and should be used either to replace the object of a verb, or to follow a preposition.
   Less/fewer?
   Less is used with things/material that cannot be counted or separated into individual parts. Fewer is used with discrete things that can be separated or counted. CDs, sausages, cows, people etc. can be counted. By far the most common mistake is to use 'less' when 'fewer' is needed.
   Affect/ effect?
   Affect - is a verb meaning to have an influence on
   Effect - is a noun meaning a cause of change brought about by an agent.

 E. Split infinitives.

The infinitive of a verb is the form given in the dictionary where no specific subject is indicated. In English it is always characterised by the word 'to' e.g. to work, to pay, to eat, to find, to inhabit, to bribe. A 'split infinitive' occurs when the 'to' is separated from its verb by other words. The most famous split infinitive comes at the beginning of every episode of Star Trek, when the crew's continuing mission is announced as: "to boldly go" (rather than "to go boldly").

English is weird

Dear Ms Morgan: in grammar there isn’t always one right answer - The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/03/morgan-grammar-test-right-answer-spag-english-spelling-punctuation-grammar

English language too 'overpowering'? - The Guardian

http://opinion.inquirer.net/89303/english-language-too-overpowering

"English-speaking natives in Korea are highly respected that companies pay them higher salaries than non-English-speaking locals who have graduated from good universities."
"Learning English is healthy because it connects nations to many parts of the world, but it will not be good if it “overwhelms” the other languages"