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Common Core ELAGrades 11–12Language

L.11-12.1: Contested Usage and Usage Guides

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1 · Cluster: Conventions of Standard English.

Make a Usage ScrambleAll 41 Grades 11–12 ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 11-12, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.11-12.1 Means in Plain English

Juniors and seniors learn that “correct” usage is a convention people agreed on, that it shifts, and that some points are still argued: hopefully as a sentence opener, singular they, comprised of. When one comes up, they check a usage guide and choose for the actual reader.

In grades 9 and 10 (L.9-10.1), students used parallel structure and varied phrases and clauses. Grades 11 and 12 are the last band before college and career readiness, and they treat grammar as a set of judgments a good reference, like Garner’s Modern American Usage, can help settle.

L.11-12.1 I Can Statements

  • I can explain why a usage rule is a convention, not a law.
  • I can look up a contested usage in a usage guide.
  • I can choose the usage that will not distract my reader.

L.11-12.1 Worked Example

One sentence from a grant proposal holds three usages that guides still argue about. The weak revision trades them for new problems; the strong one gives a cautious reviewer nothing to snag on.

Prompt

A student group is asking a county foundation for money to start a seed library. Revise this sentence for the foundation’s reviewers, and use a usage guide to justify each change: “Hopefully, the collection, which is comprised of 200 heirloom varieties, will let every gardener take home what they need.”

Not YetIt is to be hoped that the collection, which is comprised of 200 heirloom varieties, will let every gardener take home what he needs.It swaps hopefully for a stiff passive, leaves comprised of untouched, and replaces they with generic he, a rule from older handbooks that most current style guides advise against. Three choices, and each one still distracts.
Meets the StandardWe hope the collection, which comprises 200 heirloom varieties, will let gardeners take home the seeds they need.We hope says who is hoping and sidesteps hopefully, which Garner’s calls a skunked term: use it either way and some reader objects. Comprises replaces comprised of, a usage Merriam-Webster’s usage dictionary describes as long criticized and Garner’s advises against. The plural gardeners makes they uncontroversial.
Moves to Use
Treat a usage rule as a convention: ask who follows it, and since when.When a usage is disputed, look it up in a usage guide, not a grammar-check pop-up.Choose for the actual reader: a cautious grant reviewer is not a group chat.When the guides disagree, rewrite the sentence so the question never comes up.

Common Mistakes with L.11-12.1

Treating a folk rule as law

Marking every split infinitive or sentence-ending preposition wrong, rules most usage guides call myths

Try this: Have students look up three classroom rules in Merriam-Webster’s usage dictionary and report which ones the evidence actually supports.

Anything goes because usage changes

“Language evolves, so irregardless is fine in my college essay.”

Try this: Separate “Is it English?” from “Will this reader accept it?” and have students answer the second question for each audience.

Fixing one dispute by creating another

Replacing singular they with generic he, or hopefully with “It is to be hoped that”

Try this: Teach rewriting as the third option: when two usages both draw objections, recast the sentence so neither is needed.

Where L.11-12.1 Fits

Comes BeforeL.9-10.1Use parallel structure and vary sentences with phrases and clauses for meaning and interest.
AlongsideSL.11-12.6Command formal English when the setting calls for it, where usage choices are heard as well as read.W.11-12.5Edit drafts to the grades 11-12 grammar and usage expectations, focusing on what matters most to the reader.
Comes NextL.11-12.3Use what you know about how language works in different contexts to make choices for meaning and style.

Practice L.11-12.1

Sentence Scramble GeneratorFree ToolScramble sentences built around a contested usage, then have students rebuild each one two ways and pick the version for a formal reader.Usage choicesGrades 11-12
Make a Scramble

Quick Check

  1. Why does the strong version write “We hope” instead of “Hopefully”?
  2. What is contested about “is comprised of”?
  3. Why does the weak version’s generic he count as a usage problem?

L.11-12.1: Other Names

L.11-12.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.