Grammar – the breathing power of language!
The 60’s was a decade of great fashion – people dressed up for most occasions and used accessories to highlight their attire. I personally think, having good punctuation, good grammar, good spelling is like adding accessories to your writing. And, ultimately getting great joy and a pay-off adding these fixtures and fittings to your writing.
In mid-60’s, at a mere age of 6, I was reading like a rocket and English wasn’t even my first language. Our teachers pounded in the grammar and we did exercises after exercises that helped us practice each rule until it became second nature. There was no complacency; if we could not do sentence diagramming, it was a major problem. Arguments over grammar and style were often as fierce as which is better: Apple iphone or Samsung galaxy, these days 😊
Grammar itself is simply a set of rules that govern the way we speak and write. Rules of Grammar cannot be ignored. In my days, if you ignored grammar rules it was like ignoring the law. Most of us were hard core in our grammar; in each class we had an appointed team of grammarians. It was our duty to go around and check work of younger pupils and even caste an eye on the display boards to check that there were no accidental mistakes. We were in total control. I think, your grammar is a reflection of your image.
It’s a shame that some schools have scaled back the time they spend teaching grammar. Forming grammatically correct sentences should be a prerequisite. Our brains are wired for language; we’ll learn it if we are exposed to it. Some may loathe it, but nothing can replace it. Trust me, once mastered it will support you like a rock.
Some argue that it is confusing; but it does not mean cutting it off the curriculum is the solution. The #grammaticalerrors pupils make these days are a disgrace. They have no clue about the difference between: your and you’re, its and it’s etc. And the manner in which apostrophes are peppered about for no rhyme or reason and incorrect #useofcomma, changing the meaning of the whole sentence. It really is alarming!
I think proper grammar is important. The fun of grammar is that there are so many choices you can make. The more fun we have with grammar the more varied approaches we can use to make our writing interesting and engaging.
So, let us not throw up our hands in despair. Grammar should be seen as logic; once you get in, it is addictive and you start loving it.
