Exercise 5

Give Standard American English version of the passage that portrays the vernacular dialect of an African American preacher.

“fergit ever’thing but yo’soul, son. Take yo’mind off ever’thing but eternal life. fergit what newspaper say. Fergit yuh’s black. Gawd looks past yo’ skin ‘n inter yo’soul, son. He’s lookin’ at the only parta yuh tha’s His. He wants yuh ‘n’ He loves yuh. Give yo’se’f t’ ‘Im, son. Lissen, lemme tell yuh why yuh’s here; lemme tell yuh a story tha’ll make yo’ heart glad.”