Read these excerpts and say what the attitudes to non-standard English are

These four excerpts clearly demonstrate the conservative attitudes of many people in England towards the written and spoken use of the language. For example, the argument of "we was" against "we were" represents the struggle of the institutionalized, "correct" form of "we were" against the more colloquial "incorrect" form of "we was". It is also suggested here that the incorrect use of language has the ability to "[condemn] an individual to his class or ethnic ghetto than an inability to communicate clearly and logically in English." Correct use of the English language has come to be seen as more than just a distinction between social classes, but as a basic tool of survival. Furthermore, we are shown that it is a struggle for teachers in elementary schools to work against the prevalent social forces influencing people's language outside the classroom.

However, there is an argument presented in these extracts, Thomas et al (2003), that although it is quite easy to classify written English as either good or bad, correct or incorrect, this classification is not as simple in spoken language. In this instance, it is said that a certain form of language or dialect can't be incorrect, just inappropriate.