ABSTRACT
Wherever English is taught, either to people who already speak it or to people who do not, Standard English is the dialect that is taught and assessed. Standard English is the dominant dialect of English and is already a global variety. The Standard English that is taught and learned all over the world differs very little from place to place, particularly in the area of grammar. It is a single world-wide variety, but many people think— wrongly—that there are large differences in Standard English as it is used in different English-using countries. Paradoxically, because Standard English is so important, it is almost invisible—until we see something we don’t like. As a result, much grammar teaching focuses on relatively rare and unimportant features of grammar about which users of English disagree, rather than on the many more areas on which they all agree.
