Characters from The American Language

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

John Adams - This person was an American statesman who proposed in 1780 that the United States government establish an academy dedicated to the improvement and assessment of the English language.

Charles Astor Bristed - This person was the first American to write a full-length defense of Americanisms.

W. W. Charters - This person was the first researcher to study seriously the common English spoken by most Americans on a daily basis.

Benjamin Franklin - This American statesman was concerned about most of the changes in the language and one of the first...
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