"at" at the end of a where phrase

[Beverly Flanigan]

But you're confusing writing with speaking again.  I agree that a certain
"standard" should be taught in writing, if only to give kids an equal
chance in higher education and the job market.  This means teaching
standard past and participial forms of verbs, subject-verb agreement,
complete but not run-on sentence construction, and, most importantly,
coherent and cohesive text building.  (It doesn't include harping on 'who'
vs. 'whom', not ending a sentence with a preposition, and avoiding "where
at" or "boughten.")  Punctuation might also be nice in writing, but since
one doesn't hear it (except in pausing) in speech, marking of possessives,
as in "my students' writing," might also go the way of the dodo bird (since
it is anyway).  But if you teach writing style as a separate and useful
"code" in a nice and non-demeaning way, some of its "rules" might start to
permeate your students' speech as well.

Walt Wolfram distinguishes between Standard Formal Written and Standard
Colloquial Written English (I think I have his terms right, away from my
source).  The first is rarely used; the second is a nice bridge to
Colloquial Spoken English (note that I didn't say Nonstandard Spoken
English, which is a demeaning label).  Students can, and will, learn how to
shift between these styles, if you give them half a chance!

You might want to get a copy of Wolfram and Schilling-Estes, _American
English: ..._ (again, I don't have the book here, but ask any bookstore to
look it up).  The early chapters are especially good on prescriptive rules
vs. ordinary colloquial usage.

Beverly

At 09:35 AM 12/7/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> > I too had a teacher who taught us how to analyze Latin-based words (a
> > useful tool I wish my grad students had), do library research and write
> > decent papers (another skill often lacking), and appreciate good
> > literature.  But when she tore down a sign at a bake sale during a
> > basketball game because it said "Boughten Cookies," she shamed us and our
> > origins.  It was years later, of course, that I learned 'boughten' is a
> > common Northern participial adjective and felt vindicated.
> >
>I teach 8th grade.  This thread makes me feel as if I should never correct
>my students writing.  No doubt, I will think something is wrong that
>really isn't, or is so common that I should just ignore it.  Where is
>there help for teachers who were never trained about language themselves?
>Jan