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26. It is essential that I learn to speak and write standard English. This is not "acting white," but acting smart.
27. A strong vocabulary is the key to communication, and I will read books on vocabulary enrichment.
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Point 26 is perfect. The problem is not "black English", it's non-standard English. Though I personally feel that the second person plural of southern US English is an enhancement of the language, I would never use "y'all" in a formal business application - a resume or a report. (I'm a transplanted yankee.) I was thinking about this yesterday. There's a reason ebonics and "hillbilly southern" dialect speakers tend to be poor; those who learn how to speak standard English do not stay poor, or, at the least, find many more opportunities. It's not about race; it's about class.
Point 37 is too long. "... I will read books," is sufficient. Vocabulary books may be among them, but building a utilitarian, educated vocabulary comes from reading avidly and broadly, not memorizing lists of words. More to the point, if one commits to memory a list of words even with context aids, unless one sees them used naturally a number of times, one will soud the fool when using them. I have walked out of a meeting where a woman who was desparately trying to sound intelligent kept saying "sufficient enough". that';s the sign of someone who learned "sufficient" from a vocabulary book. It sounds impressive by itself, and means "enough", and by itself suffices.