TALKING ABOUT STYLE

Spoken varieties of English may follow rules for the use of be that differ from the rules in standard English. For instance, you may have heard speakers say sentences like “She ain’t here now” (instead of the standard English She isn’t here now) or “He be at work every Saturday” (instead of the standard English He is at work every Saturday). You may sometimes want to quote dialogue featuring such spoken usages of be when you write. In most academic and professional writing, however, you will want to follow the conventions of standard English. (For help on using varieties of English appropriately, see Chapter 22.)