I taught the grammar class at our university for years, as well as the History of the English Language class (fondly known as HEL). Grammar has always been my favorite subject to study as well as to teach. If I had my way, everyone would study Latin* as well as English grammar from the time they were six years old.
HOWEVER.
The biggest problem I'm seeing with my students is not that they haven't been taught grammar, but that they have been taught grammar badly. Either their teachers did not know English grammar (a possibility, I admit) or the students did not understand what they were being taught.
So I get students who think that any long sentence is a run-on, for instance. Or I get students who have some hazy idea about clauses starting with which or that and when each word should be used. Or I get students who are perfectly certain that starting a sentence with a conjunction is "bad" grammar.
Or various other weird misconceptions.
But the worst part is, I get students who think that "good" grammar equals good writing, and that if their sentences are grammatically correct, then they're "good" writers.
Of course, their sentences often aren't grammatically correct, but that's another issue.
*Why Latin? Because a sound knowledge of Latin grammar makes understanding English grammar so much easier. Also, the process of learning Latin correctly teaches problem-solving, logic, and the ability to think clearly. Sadly, usually the only people teaching Latin these days are homeschoolers, and they teach it very badly, just as they teach English grammar very badly.
2 comments:
I think similar results can be achieved with any language, honestly. The trick is the study has to be serious and analytical, as in not memorization based. Latin has the advantage of being a dead language, which means learning it requires studying the nuts and bolts. You can't learn stock phrases from a popular TV show, for example.
But really, in-depth study of any foreign language makes it easier to appreciate the workings of your native language. Unfortunately, even mandatory classes don't guarantee an appreciation for what the class is actually trying to teach :/
Probably true! I didn't have the same experience when I was learning Greek or French, though that may just have been because I already had it with Latin.
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