subject: How English Grammar Provides You with an Essential Tool for Success [print this page] How English Grammar Provides You with an Essential Tool for Success
Perhaps you have been wondering why you have to study English grammar when you can speak English anyway. Well, the answer is this: because studying it will provide you with the tool for success. Just because you speak English doesn't mean you speak it right. It neither guarantees how people think of you, and how much they understand you.
Grammar can be your tool and this tool can be truly multi-functional. For one, it can be your tool in expressing yourself well. Mixing words or arranging them differently can deliver different meanings. You need to know your grammar so you can say what you truly mean. This will prevent any misunderstanding that could cause other bitter things in your life.
Secondly, learning the English grammar serves as a tool in improving your creativity. When you know the rules, you can invent and reinvent words by using them in different ways. You can also make something bad sound not-so-bad, or good to sound even better.
Thirdly, the rules of grammar make teaching and learning a lot easier. For instance, it's just so much easier to say "In here you should use adverb instead of an adjective" or "You should have used the active voice and not the passive." Imagine if teachers would always have to do all the hard work checking students' papers and correcting them by just using a red ink. How would students eventually learn on their own?
Fourthly, being able to get a good grip of grammar can spell your success in the future. Wherever you go or whatever profession you'd land on, you will definitely encounter the need to write or speak. Both of these would demand you to apply English grammar rules taught in school. Not being able to use these rules correctly can reflect so much of your intelligence and personality. As teaching grammar is stated by the law, you won't really have any justification as to why you do not know your English. It's probably either you were too lazy or too slow. Either way, the impression is going to be dreadful.
It has been reported that the ability of both native and non-native speakers of the English language has declined significantly. Perhaps it's due to the lack of importance that people give to the language. Moreover, perhaps the technology has got something to do with it too. For instance, sending text messages has put brevity atop correct form. A lot of people have started spelling words just by the way they sound and not by the way they are supposed to be spelled. The worse thing is that they do not only use "text lingo" when sending text messages; they use it in real-life situations too such as writing down notes, emailing, creating announcements, and the likes.
In order for the deterioration of the language to stop, learning the grammar rules
should be reinforced. Everyone should be made to understand that grammar is not only a school subject but a real-life tool for success too.
