Question

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn’t notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It’s because over the twenty years we’ve been together I’ve often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with. What can be inferred from the excerpt? Tan believes that nonstandard English can make family communication difficult. Tan believes that nonstandard English can be an important part of family culture. Tan believes that the use of nonstandard English is a way to keep family business private. Tan believes that the use of nonstandard English must be guarded against in public.

Answer 1

Answer:

Tan believes that nonstandard English can be an important part of family culture.

Explanation:

In her essay "Mother Tongue", Amy Tan talks of how her family's use of the English had been different from what she used around other English speaking people. She admits she used "nonstandard English" with her mother yet used a different one with her husband. But this difference in the English language is what led her to her realization of the two worlds she is stuck in.

The given excerpt from the essay shows how one incident in which she unintentionally but instinctively used the "nonstandard English" with her mother without her realizing it.  But then, coming from a non- English speaking family, she believes it to be an important part of a family's culture.