VOA慢速英语:Who Makes Grammar Rules?

短语讲解：

1. If you learned about grammar in school, you were probably taught to think about “correct” and “incorrect” ways of using a language.

think about 考虑…; 捉摸…
例句：Even now when I think about it I feel pain in my heart.
就是现在想起来我心里都感到难受。

2. Those who do not follow the rules are looked down upon as being careless or poorly educated.

look down upon 看轻; 蔑视，瞧不起
例句：Don't look down upon him, he's no mug.
不要小看他，他不是个笨蛋。

3. They look for rules and patterns that people follow.

look for 寻找
例句：I was just going to look for you and here you are.
我正要找你，恰好你来了。

4. Dr. Epstein says that random grammar rules were a way for the upper classes of London to protect themselves from a rising middle class.

protect from 保护， 保卫
例句：Wild wood should be well protect from excessive hag.
野生森林应该被保护以免过量砍伐。

5. Knowing that regular folks used ‘ain’t’ but the upper classes of the United States didn’t, they created this sort of fake rule that you shouldn’t use ‘ain’t’ because it didn’t make sense.

make sense 有意义; 理解; 讲得通;
例句：These words are jumbled up and don't make sense.
这些词藻堆砌在一起讲不通。