Is Grammar Really That Important Any More?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by RolandD

This is on topic and amusing.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-common...rent-mistakes/

Thank you. Very funny article.

[crich70]

Actually good grammar does help the mechanic and just about any other profession too. Not everything is learned by doing after all. The teachers had to know the material and of course the students who went on to be mechanics, doctors, and lawyers etc.had to be able to read and comprehend what they were learning from their textbooks. And so good grammar is important there too. And as I and others have said you can't break a rule of grammar and get away with it unless you know the rule in the first place any more than you can figure out the best short cut to get where you are driving unless you know the main route. If you know the main route is 30 miles and you want to save a few miles travel you look for alternate routes to shave a few miles travel off the trip. but you can't begin to do that unless you know the main route is 30 miles long. The same goes for grammar.

[lucasfernan89]

Good grammar is essential! 'Newspeak' isn't perfectly clear, nor is it easy for those unfamiliar with the terms to grasp. Newspeak changes rapidly and it can't be assumed that all are savvy with the new fang dangled slang. Grammar helps maintain a standard in which all can communicate effectively. Not only that but it's difficult for foreigners to follow. This is important in a language where we have more foreign speakers than in any other.

So, for me, grammar is practical... not to mention that naturally it repulses me to read something written without it for aesthetic reasons.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by lucasfernan89

Grammar helps maintain a standard in which all can communicate effectively. Not only that but it's difficult for foreigners to follow.

You've slightly lost me there. Why does good grammar make it "difficult for foreigners to follow"? I would have said exactly the opposite, myself.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You've slightly lost me there. Why does good grammar make it "difficult for foreigners to follow"? I would have said exactly the opposite, myself.

Speaking as someone who was once forced to learn English grammar as a part of learning the actual language, I'd have to agree with you. I think he was talking about "newspeak" and slang though?

[exaltedwombat]

No-one will think any the less of your writing if it is accurate, well-spelt and grammatical.

Plenty of readers will be irritated by sloppy grammar, and assume that if you can't write straight, you can't THINK straight.

So it's a no-brainer to do the job properly!

[orlok]

Anything that brings you out of the story - that um, wait a minute moment - has to be bad for the author and reader alike. And bad grammar, or mistakes, will do that for you.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Speaking as someone who was once forced to learn English grammar as a part of learning the actual language, I'd have to agree with you. I think he was talking about "newspeak" and slang though?

That would make sense - thanks; I didn't read it like that but, there again, I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree.

As you rightly say, as a newcomer to a language, understanding the "grammatically correct" form of the language is much easier than understanding the everyday spoken varieties. I'm currently learning Arabic, and understanding what's called "modern literary Arabic", which is the standard written form of the language, is much, much easier than understanding the considerably different local dialects which exist in the different Arabic-speaking countries. People in Egypt don't speak Arabic the same as people in, say, Saudi Arabia do, although the written language is the same in both countries.

[Crossroad Press]

I'm still reading back through all the responses, but I vote...yes. My god, it's hard enough to weed out the people without a good story to tell ... it's like asking is it just okay to flick paint at the canvas, or is learning to paint still important? For me, the actual discipline and "care" that goes into actually learning a language is important for someone who wants to be a writer. If you are just sending a text to your BFF that's one thing, but if you want me to pay you money and read your work? You need to show me that it matters to you. Ignoring grammar, to me, says the opposite.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Crossroad Press

If you are just sending a text to your BFF that's one thing

Which again illustrates the importance of effective communications, since I don't have the faintest idea what the statement that I've quoted means. What is a "BFF"? Do you expect your readers to know what a "BFF" is?

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Which again illustrates the importance of effective communications, since I don't have the faintest idea what the statement that I've quoted means. What is a "BFF"? Do you expect your readers to know what a "BFF" is?

Best Friend Forever

[orlok]

Even I knew that. Where have you been hiding, Harry?

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by orlok

Even I knew that. Where have you been hiding, Harry?

In a world without teenagers, maybe? *shrug* That how I learned it anyway.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by orlok

Even I knew that. Where have you been hiding, Harry?

In England . Perhaps it hasn't reached these distant shores? Not one I've come across before.

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In England . Perhaps it hasn't reached these distant shores? Not one I've come across before.

Nope, sorry, Harry - it has! Even if you manage to isolate yourself from all contact with teenagers, you'll also have to give all TVs a wide berth to miss seeing the pink paradise that is: Paris Hilton's My New BFF.