official english legislation

[Herb Stahlke]

Mai,

The average sophomore English major in our Language and Society classes has trouble with Wolfram and Schilling-Estes' American English.  Late 18th c. legal and political writing?

Herb

>>> mkuha at BSUVC.BSU.EDU 06/01/01 12:35PM >>>
On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, Jordan Rich wrote:
(...)
> >         `(a) UNIFORM LANGUAGE TESTING STANDARD- All citizens should be able
> >to read and understand generally the English language text of the
> >Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Laws of the United
> >States made in pursuance of the Constitution.
> >
>
> Absolutely horrible.
>
> How can anyone vote for this in good conscience?
>
> Jordan

This is a bit off-topic, but, now that you point out this part, I can't
help wondering whether the average native speaker of American English can
understand these texts.

-Mai