CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1a

ELAGrades 11–12Conventions of Standard English

The Standard

Apply the understanding that usage is a matter of convention, can change over time, and is sometimes contested.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students compare grammar and word choices across time, communities, and settings. They use dictionaries, usage notes, and style guides to explain which form fits a particular audience and purpose.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can trace a disputed form, such as singular they or who versus whom, and summarize the evidence without calling one group’s speech inferior. They can choose a form for a specific context and explain that choice.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think grammar rules are fixed, universal, and set by one authority. They may also treat any common form as suitable everywhere, or label dialect differences as mistakes.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Compare “Each student must bring his book” and “Each student must bring their book.” Choose one for a current school handbook, then justify your choice using audience and one provided style guide note.

Lesson moves

Give groups excerpt cards using whom, shall, and singular they; have them build a timeline and verify patterns with dictionaries.
Ask students to write: When should a writer follow a disputed convention, and when should audience and context guide the choice?
Run a usage court game where teams defend less or fewer, who or whom, and singular they with evidence from style guides.
Compare language in a job posting, text message, and school policy, then revise one sentence for each audience.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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