Gilyard's above-mentioned chapter is divided into two sections. The first and largest of the two sections is called Early Language, and the second and much shorter section is called Reading Acquisition.

Gilyard mentions the debate over the validity of 'Black English', but does not argue the fact, instead he gives reasons for his own way of speaking, and how his language is "...reflective of that language variety..."

N.B., All examples of conversations alluded to in this chapter can be found in the previous chapter (chapter 2) of the same book, also on reserve at the library circulation desk.

Two linguistic features of 'Black English':

-Zero copula rule

"Omit be when it would only refer to events fixed in time and nonrepeating."

Examples: "Oh you so stupid Keith."

"Then why you laughin?"

"They doin nasty."

-Negation

Way of emphasizing the negative nature of a statement by using extra negatives.

Example: "Ain't no teacher can keep no class late like that."

Gilyard goes on to thank his mother for being a fluent speaker of both 'Black English', and 'Standard American English', pointing out that he learned to code-switch between both forms of English. He also asserts that children, even at a very young age, know the social consequences of different dialects, and furthermore, know when the use of each is appropriate.