ASL is not signed English. I've looked at it and spoken with both hearing and deaf signer before about it. There is something, taught in schools, called Exact Signed English, which is usually distained by ASLers. One example: you can mention folks, by signing their name, etc., and place them in 3D space before you (the signer). You can then refer (by pointing to the space) to that person. It's like having a bunch of extra third person pronouns. He-sub-1, thru she-sub-2. ASL also has a full and functional morphology which is quite different from English.