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I don't know if the same thing has happened elsewhere, but here in the UK, the formal study of English grammar has very much "gone out of fashion" in schools, and the majority of people leave school today not equipped with the vocabulary to discuss language in any meaningful way. Use a word like "subjunctive" to most young people today and you'll get a blank look.
That, to my mind, is a great pity. I think that you miss many of the "subtleties" of great literature if you don't have a proper understanding of the grammar of your own language: eg, how many people today understand the distinction between "I will go" and "I shall go"? Authors like Dickens certainly understood it, and if the reader doesn't, he or she will lose something from the book.
These may be "old fashioned" views, but I firmly stand by them!
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