Re: GRAMMAR

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1 total messages Started by Philip Chapman-Bell Fri, 22 Jan 1993 02:13

#356

Author: Philip Chapman-Bell
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 02:13

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If I can jump into this conversation, I'd like to observe that when I say 'grammar' to my university freshmen, they think I'm speaking about not ending sentences with prepositions, not splitting infinitives, and other such superstitious tripe, whereas I'm thinking I'm speaking about agreement of pronouns, the use of complete sentences, and other such tools which aid the reader in understanding what the writer wants to communicate.  My point here would be that in the teaching of grammar, it is paramount to 
stress the aim of grammar, rather than insisting on the memorization of just what a noun is or on putting 'I' after another's name.  (My teachers in grammar and high school were of the school of insisting on the rules and never explaining their aim; it wasn't until I started studying German that I realized that English had an observable and useful structure.  I don't know about you, but I am far more annoyed by the over-correction I hear about me (as in "between you and I") than I am by a good honest "ain'
t."
        But that's just my opinion.



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