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The Importance of Grammar

• Categories: Language Linguistics

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Words: 859 |

Published: Mar 3, 2020

Words: 859 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited:

• Harris, A., Joyce, P., & Eastoe, D. (2012). Leadership theory and educational outcomes: The case of distributed and transformational leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 15(3), 269-283.
• National Honor Society. (n.d.). National Honor Society. https://www.nhs.us/
• Lewis, L. A. (2017). Leadership styles in high school students. Journal of School Leadership, 27(5), 484-504.
• Berkowicz, J., & Myers, A. (2018, September 13). Opinion: The importance of character education. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-the-importance-of-character-education/2018/09
• Hanushek, E. A. (2017, Winter). Scholarship in high school: A look at the research. Education Next. https://www.educationnext.org/scholarship-in-high-school-look-at-research/
• HelpGuide.org. (n.d.). Volunteering and its surprising benefits. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm

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Why Is Grammar Important? Here Are 5 Good Reasons

By Krystal N. Craiker

Have you ever wondered why you should care about grammar? Why bother with good grammar once you’re done writing essays for school?

As the world becomes more digitally connected, good grammar is more important than ever.

What Is “Good Grammar?”

5 reasons why grammar is important, basic grammar skills to remember.

What do we mean by “good grammar?” Proper grammar follows the accepted conventions of sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling.

Grammar applies to both written and spoken language, but today we’re focusing on written grammar skills.

Using correct grammar means following the rules of English.

There are a lot of rules, and they often chan‌ge, but the basics stay the same. Knowing these basic rules, and using them correctly, is the key to proper grammar.

What’s the Purpose of Grammar?

Grammar exists to make communication easier.

It’s a way to standardize how we use the English language, which cuts down on communication errors. Poor grammar leads to confusion and misunderstandings.

Everything is online these days, which means people are constantly reading. From email and social media to news articles and online learning, we are using written language more than ever.

This means the chance for misunderstandings is even higher. Good grammar builds bridges by making effective communication easier.

Thankfully, as the world becomes more connected through the internet, we now have technology to help us avoid grammatical errors.

We believe good grammar is so important that our grammar checker will always be free.

Here are five good rea‌sons why you need strong grammar skills.

You’ll notice that all five reasons have an underlying thread: effective communication.

Let’s take a look at some of the most important ways that proper grammar aids effective communication.

1) Clarity in Communication

The most important aspect of communication is clarity. Grammar rules exist to improve clarity. Mixing up similar words, or using run-on sentences, can leave your audience confused.

Clarity is especially important in email, social media, and messaging platforms. When grammar mistakes cause unclear communication, it wastes time because you need to explain yourself all over again.

If you’re giving instructions, your audience may do something wrong because they misunderstood. This may lead to an unnecessary argument caused by poor communication skills.

Using correct grammar won’t eliminate every miscommunication in your life, but it will drastically cut down on them. Correct grammar allows you to say what you need to say, clearly, the first time.

2) Accessibility

Good grammar improves accessibility.

Not everyone reads on the same level. Learning disabilities like dyslexia can make reading comprehension difficult, but correct grammar makes writing easier to understand.

Assistive technologies that read text out loud also work much better when grammar is used correctly.

Readability is an essential part of accessibility, even for people without learning disabilities. Readability scores , like the ones used in our Readability Report , can help you reach an average reading level that the majority of people can understand.

A recommended readability score for most audiences is a US grade 7. Improving your grammar is the quickest way to improve a readability score.

3) Global Connection

For writing to be truly accessible, it has to be understandable for non-native English speakers as well as native ones.

When we learn other languages, we learn proper grammar; it takes a much higher level of fluency to interpret incorrect grammar.

By writing with good grammar, you ensure that non-native speakers have a higher chance of understanding you.

That’s the power of language and grammar: we can connect with people from across the world who speak many languages. Grammar rules make this connection easier.

4) Good Impressions

In any situation where you need to make a good impression, correct grammar will help, which is especially true in professional and academic settings.

Don’t discount the importance of cultural dialects. Even dialects follow grammatical patterns. But these grammatical patterns and rules don’t always line up with standard English grammar.

In professional situations, aim to use standard English grammar rules.

Using good grammar also shows attention to detail.

This is a highly valued professional skill, and when you send a cover letter or other important document that has exceptional grammar, it makes you stand out from the masses.

5) Make Your Words Matter

We’ve covered how grammar is crucial for clarity, but grammar also helps your words make an impact.

Grammatical patterns can help you emphasize ideas, evoke emotions, and entertain your audience. Playing with syntax and word order is how you can take your writing from drab to exciting.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common grammar mistakes in writing.

• Sentence fragments
• Run-on sentences
• Incorrect subject–verb agreement
• Mixed up homophones
• Incorrect punctuation

Sentence fragments are very common errors. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. If it doesn’t have ‌both, it’s a sentence fragment. A sentence fragment does not express a complete thought.

In contrast, run-on sentences have too many subjects and verbs.

They occur when too many independent and dependent clauses are not correctly linked with punctuation. They’re hard to read because there are no breaks in the train of thought.

Subject–verb agreement means that the verb ending should match the subject in both point-of-view and number.

In other words, don’t use a third-person singular verb if your subject is first person plural. Here’s what this might look like:

Incorrect: We knows the muffin man.

Correct: We know the muffin man.

Mixed up homophones are another egregious error. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings.

Some of the most common homophones that people mix up are: your/you’re , then/than , to/two/too , there/their/they’re .

ProWritingAid’s Homonym Report can ensure that you are using the correct word every time.

Incorrect punctuation is another thing to avoid. Always end your declarative sentences with periods, your questions with question marks , and your exclamatory statements with exclamation points .

If you write a quote, use both opening and closing quotation marks . Be mindful of comma s: don’t overuse them.

Conclusion: Why Your Grammar Matters

Your words represent your thoughts and ideas. Writing is how we interact with other people when we can’t be face to face. Because the written word has so much power, grammar matters.

Don’t think of grammar as a vicious red pen or a pedantic teacher out to get you.

Think of grammar as the set of tools which help you communicate as clearly and effectively as possible. Grammar is there to enhance your communication , not inhibit it.

And if many grammar guidelines still elude you, ProWritingAid has you covered.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Krystal N. Craiker

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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Why Is Grammar Important? (5 Key Reasons)

• May 1, 2021

You have, no doubt, started to read an article, a news post, a blog, or anything in between, and thought to yourself, “Boy, was this written by a bot?” Worse yet, you may have wished the bot had been the one doing the writing. In moments like these, you quickly come to realize just how important grammar is in any kind of writing. For even something as short as a tweet, a mangled one fails to have the impact of a well-written one.

Grammar is, simply put, the foundation on which language—both verbal and, in our case, written—is built. If the work you do relies on any kind of written content, you can’t expect to skimp on grammar and receive the kind of engagement you desire. To help truly drive this home, here are five reasons grammar is so crucial.

1. Grammar ensures everything you write is clear

No matter what the intentions behind your writing—be it to change the world, to persuade, or just to entertain—if you have a tenuous grasp on grammar, then your writing won’t have the clarity it needs to get your message across.

This includes the little stuff, like commas, as well as deeper syntax and sentence structure issues. At worst, a comma in the wrong place can transform the meaning of a sentence. At best, your sentence will be harder for the reader to decipher.

You might’ve heard of this famous example: “Let’s eat, grandma.” Without the comma, it turns into “Let’s eat grandma,” which has an entirely different meaning that only cannibals would find appealing.

A dangling modifier will briefly leave your readers scratching their heads, breaking any flow and ruining any engagement. If your readers have to decipher your meaning, then you’ve done something wrong.

“Walking at sunset, the sights were beautiful.” In that sentence, what’s walking? The sights? That modifier is dangling. A better version might be: “Walking at sunset, I soaked in the beautiful sights.”

These kinds of issues only serve to make things more difficult for your readers. The better you can select the right words in the right order for the message you’re trying to convey, the better it will resonate with readers, and the less likely they will be to misread or misinterpret what you’re telling them.

2. Good grammar makes your writing sound professional, which gives it authority

The clunkier your sentences and paragraphs are, the less professional your writing will be—and the less professional it is, the less likely your readers will believe that you’re an authority for anything. If you want readers to take what you’re trying to say (or sell) seriously, your grammar has to be on point. At the same time, good grammar also allows you to give your writing the tone you want, be it formal, informal, or somewhere in between.

In many situations, your words will be one of the first interactions that someone has with you. Make them count. Poor grammar will only erode the trust you’re trying to build with your readers. Without trust , you’ll find it much harder to accomplish whatever it is you intend for your words to accomplish, be it sell or entertain.

3. Good grammar allows your writing to be more persuasive, and competitive

Readers trying to wade their way through written content that’s riddled with errors are probably going to be too distracted to truly engage with what you’re trying to say. That’s reason enough not to have poor grammar. Every comma splice (a comma between two complete sentences), every homophone (two words that sound similar but aren’t: there/there affect/effect), and every dangling modifier make it harder to relay your message—sell whatever it is you’re selling.

Once you’ve moved beyond simply trying to avoid mistakes, harnessing the power of grammar will allow you to elevate whatever you write to the next level. Well-constructed sentences with excellent word choice and an on-point tone will not only be more engaging to read but more persuasively.

On top of that, if you’re writing for any sort of competitive market—say you want your blog about personal finance or knitting to perform well—you’ll be more likely to rise above your competition if you have the grammar to really dazzle your readers.

4. Express yourself better with better grammar

For non-academic or formal writing, voice is everything— and grammar is important in ensuring that your voice comes through loud and clear. If you want to sound excited, there are much better alternatives than simply ending EVERY! SINGLE! SENTENCE! with an exclamation point. If you want to sound excited, try using words that convey that feeling.

Of course, everything in moderation. The occasional exclamation point won’t detract much from your writing, but too many will do more harm than good. The same goes for ellipses or any other grammar tool.

5. If you do want to break the rules, learn them first

As they say, with great powers comes great responsibility. That’s as true for superpowers as it is for grammar. You’re free to bend the rules (or perhaps even break them if you’re really careful). Doing so will give your voice just the tone you want it to have. Ultimately, accuracy and clarity should be your end goal with any writing. However, the occasional fragment or run-on sentence can have a great stylistic effect if used intelligently and sparingly. Throw the rules out of the window too often, though, and your writing will devolve into an incoherent mess.

The bottom line

Without grammar, written and verbal communication would be nigh impossible. That alone is one of the main reasons why grammar is important. But, beyond that, poor grammar will be painfully obvious to most if not all readers, while excellent grammar will elevate your writing to the next level. You’ll have more clarity, sound more professional, and engage readers more effectively with great grammar.

Even if you didn’t pay quite enough attention in English class, you can avoid poor grammar. Many word processors will guide you in the right direction, and writing tools like Grammarly will help even more. Crafting words that truly shine takes skill and practice, though, which is why hiring a talented and experienced writer or editor can be so beneficial. Allow them to show you why grammar is so important and reap the benefits.

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The Importance of Grammar in English

English grammar is one of the most important elements of your language study. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most complex and difficult.

In this article, I’ll show you why English grammar matters in different situations , from informal conversations to professional communication.

I’ll also help you study grammar more efficiently  by focusing on the concepts that are most important to you—plus three key English grammar rules you can’t ever ignore.

How Important Is English Grammar in Daily Life?

3 english grammar rules that are important in any setting, irregular plurals, articles and gender, speaking formally, how to practice the english grammar that’s most important to you, and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Correct grammar is your key to speaking English fluently and confidently. Knowing your grammar will help you avoid errors that make your English sound strange to native speakers.

But there are certain situations in which English grammar is especially important . For example, if you’re going for a job interview in an English-speaking country , the employer will be interested in the quality of your spoken and written English. In fact, in a recent survey of UK job recruiters , 50% said that bad spelling and grammar was the biggest reason they would dislike an application.

Correct grammar won’t just demonstrate your English skills—it’ll also show that you’re diligent and have an eye for detail.

This is equally important if you’re aiming to study abroad. Colleges and universities are likely to assess your academic English  based largely on your knowledge of English grammar.

Grammar is even important for your social life . Did you know that people on online dating apps are 14% less likely to chat with someone who uses poor grammar ? Plus, when you’re meeting new people or visiting new places, the last thing you want is to be misunderstood! To avoid confusing your friends, or even ordering more drinks than you intended, you need to have a firm idea of how to structure your words.

With all that said, remember that in some situations it’s okay to relax your grammar . When you’re texting a close friend, for example, it’s fine to use casual or more simplified language. Talking online is a fantastic way to connect with native speakers and other English learners in a friendly and pressure-free environment.

Here are a few English grammar rules that everybody needs to know.

If you ask your friend to look after your dog , but you actually have seven dogs,  your friend is in for a massive canine surprise.

Making a mistake with plurals is sure to cause confusion anywhere , from social situations to research labs. That’s why it’s so important to learn the rules—especially for irregular English plurals, which are tricky for non-native speakers.

In English, the standard way to form the plural is by adding the letter “ s ” to the end of a singular noun.

One cat → Two cat s

One shoe → Two shoe s

One bath → Two bath s

This rule works most of the time, but unfortunately there are some exceptions.

Words that end in “ ss ” typically form the plural by adding “ es ” to the end. This is to avoid having a triple “ s ” at the end of a word, which would look and sound strange.

One goddess → Two goddess es

One business → Two business es

Some words may stay the same in the plural as in the singular . For example, if you have one pet  fish and you buy another, you now have two  fish . If you fly in an aircraft , and then fly in another, you’ve now flown in two aircraft . There’s no rule to tell us which words will behave like this, but luckily the list isn’t too daunting. The proofreading website Vappingo has come up with 101 examples of these words .

Some of them may be a little obscure, but you’ll see there are certainly some that you’ll use all the time. When you come across a word like this, make a note of it to help you remember that it’s different.

You may also start to see patterns among irregular plurals, but don’t rely on them without checking. For example, one goose becomes two geese , but one moose becomes two moose  (not “meese”).

These sorts of words are the most misleading and probably the hardest to get the hang of. One way of learning these irregular plurals is to create a table with two columns during your regular vocabulary study. When you learn an important piece of vocabulary, write the singular form in one column and the plural in the opposite column. Hang the table somewhere you’ll see it regularly, like on the back of your bedroom door or on your fridge.

Once you get used to seeing them, they’ll begin to look less odd!

Understanding articles and gender in English is crucial for being able to refer to a person or thing correctly . Unfortunately, this highly important English grammar rule is also one of the strangest for many non-native speakers.

That’s because in many languages, the way that you describe a noun is dependent on its gender. In French, for instance, there are different articles for feminine and masculine nouns.

In English, nouns don’t have a grammatical gender. It’s common for new English speakers to refer to objects as “he” or “she” because they’re used to them having a gender in their native language.

The good news is that once you break this habit,  English grammar is actually very simple . The two articles you need are “the” and “a.” We use “the” to refer to specific objects directly , while we use “a” to refer to objects more generally.

I would like to eat the banana you bought at the store today.

I would like to eat a banana , but there aren’t any in the house.

If a noun begins with a vowel, the indefinite article becomes “an”  rather than “a.”

Confusingly, English speakers love to humanize objects, even though we don’t use genders. Vehicles are often treated as feminine. You may hear someone say, “Look at her engine, she’s a real beauty!” when talking about a car. This doesn’t mean that a car should actually be referred to as “she,” it’s just a way of expressing pride or fondness for a machine by making it sound more like a person.

Formality is important for lots of occasions. For interviews, work dinners and dates, you need to be able to adapt your English to suit the tone of the event .

One subtle grammar change that’s worth noting is the use of the words “can” and “may” when making requests or asking questions. “May” is considered more formal and polite than “can.”

With a friend, you might ask, “ Can I have the wine?” With a colleague or someone you just met, you might ask, “ May I have the wine?”  instead.

Similarly, “would like” is a more formal version of “want.”

I want to try on this dress. → I would like to try on this dress.

There’s one thing that makes formality in English easier than other languages. In lots of languages, there’s a formal and an informal way of addressing somebody (saying “you”). In French, for example, you can use tu for a friend and vous  for somebody you don’t know so well. But in English we only have one word: “you.”   You can call your best friend, your mom and your boss “you” without worrying about formality.

Now that we’ve covered three important grammar rules in English, it’s time to look at how you can practice grammar that’s relevant to your needs. For instance, if you’re learning basic grammar for a trip to the U.S., you have different needs than someone who’s applying to an undergraduate program at an English-speaking university.

So, how do you focus your grammar study on the most important concepts for you ?

Start by gathering some quality, comprehensive grammar resources to narrow down your learning. For example:

As you study with this and other resources, keep a notebook of key grammatical ideas so you can look back on what you’ve covered. At the beginning of each week, choose a new area to focus on and challenge yourself to find a real life example each day. This will help you track your progress on the grammar concepts that are most important to you.

You can also make a note of confusing grammar that you hear or read in English . Once you begin to immerse yourself in English media, you’ll start to realize that you’re hearing certain phrases and structures again and again. Those are the important everyday grammar concepts you should focus on if you don’t already recognize them.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

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If you have English-speaking friends, don’t be afraid to ask them to help you out . People are unlikely to correct your spoken grammar because they may worry about offending you. Tell your friends that you don’t mind them politely pointing out your errors, and they can help you find the right way of rephrasing your words.

A good friend will be patient and encouraging, because even native English speakers know that grammar can be complicated.

While English grammar can seem daunting in places, learning to understand and use it correctly is incredibly rewarding. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as you practice English. Sometimes this is the best way to learn! If you’re committed and enthusiastic about tackling grammar, it can be an absorbing and even exciting aspect of learning a new language.

If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials , as you can see here:

If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.

The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.

FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.

For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:

FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.

FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.

The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

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• Writing Tips

Why Grammar Is Important!

• 3-minute read
• 11th January 2023

You’re probably aware that grammar is important. But some could argue that grammar is the most important part of writing. Read on to learn the five components of grammar and why proper grammar is so crucial.

1.   Punctuation

Yes, punctuation – while it can be considered its own category in writing – plays a key role in grammar. You can set the tone with ending punctuation, use commas to separate thoughts and add clarity, and use apostrophes to change the meaning.

Consider an example:

Here, just one missing comma can mean the difference between listing things you love and sounding like Hannibal Lecter !

2.   Tense and Aspect

Tense refers to whether something happens in the past , present , or future . Aspect indicates whether you’re talking about one single instant action, a regular or repeated action, or an ongoing or progressive action or state . For example:

These sentences sound similar, but whether the couple is married or not varies between each one.

3.   Word Order

In English, word order shows the relationship between the words, so the meaning can change depending on where they’re placed. A basic statement follows this formula: subject + verb + objects and adverbial phrases. Adjectives come before the subject or object they describe. Let’s look at some examples of how word order can make a difference:

While each of these sentences technically make sense, they each mean something quite different – and can evoke some strange mental images!

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4.   Determiners

Nouns don’t usually stand on their own in everyday language. Determiners are words that tell us things like who or what a noun belongs to, how many there are, and where they are. For example:

See how these sentences mean very different things? Determiners are essential in forming meaningful sentences in the English language.

5.   Connectors

As their name suggests, connectors, such as “if,” “who,” “when,” “and,” “but,” “neither,” and “both,” connect phrases, words, and clauses . Using these correctly is important, as they add essential details to your sentences:

In this example, your choice of connectors can mean the difference between offering too much dessert and offering none.

Why Is Grammar So Important?

As we’ve seen, getting your meaning across correctly comes down to using grammar properly. Even small errors can be costly ! In addition, it lets your readers know that you are a reliable source, makes you look professional, and shows respect for anyone reading your work.

It also keeps your readers engaged. Have you ever been engrossed in reading something very interesting, only to get stuck on a sentence that you have to read a few times because it doesn’t quite make sense or the meaning isn’t clear? If this happens to your readers, they’ll be distracted from your message, and your writing won’t accomplish what you intended it to.

Professional Proofreading and Editing

Now that you know more about how important grammar is, don’t neglect to have your writing proofread! Even if you feel pretty confident with your grammar usage, all writers miss errors in their own writing. Why not try out our proofreading service for free ?

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• Humanities ›
• English Grammar ›

Why Grammar Is a Timeless Subject to Study and Teach

These Grammarians Will Help You Reach a Conclusion

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Grammar has long been a subject of study—as a companion to rhetoric in ancient Greece and Rome and as one of the seven liberal arts in medieval education. Although the methods of studying grammar have changed dramatically in recent times, the  reasons  for studying grammar have remained essentially the same. 

One of the most sensible answers to the question of why grammar matters appears in a position statement on the teaching of grammar in American schools. Published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the report is refreshingly free of educational cant. Here's how it begins:

"Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in any language. As human beings, we can put sentences together even as children—we can all do grammar. But to be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make up sentences—that is knowing about grammar. And knowing about grammar offers a window into the human mind and into our amazingly complex mental capacity."

"People associate grammar with errors and correctness. But knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise. Grammar can be part of literature discussions when we and our students closely read the sentences in poetry and stories. And knowing about grammar means finding out that all languages and all dialects follow grammatical patterns."

(Haussamen, Brock, et al. "Some Questions and Answers About Grammar," 2002.)

Note: The full report, "Some Questions and Answers About Grammar," can be found on the website for the National Council of Teachers of English. It's well worth the read for anyone interested in English grammar.

Additional Perspectives on Grammar

Consider these explanations from other experts in English and education on why grammar matters:

"On the utility and importance of the study of Grammar, and the principles of composition , much might be advanced, for the encouragement of persons in early life to apply themselves to this branch of learning... It may indeed be justly asserted, that many of the differences in opinion amongst men, with the disputes, contentions, and alienations of heart, which have too often proceeded from such differences, have been occasioned by a want of proper skill in the connexion and meaning of words, and by a tenacious misapplication of language."

(Murray, Lindley. English Grammar: Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners , Collins and Perkins, 1818.)

"We study grammar because a knowledge of sentence structure is an aid in the interpretation of literature; because continual dealing with sentences influences the student to form better sentences in his own composition; and because grammar is the best subject in our course of study for the development of reasoning power."

(Webster, William Frank. The Teaching of English Grammar , Houghton, 1905.)

"The study of language is a part of general knowledge. We study the complex working of the human body to understand ourselves; the same reason should attract us to studying the marvelous complexity of human language..."

"If you understand the nature of language, you will realize the ground for your linguistic prejudices and perhaps moderate them; you will also more clearly assess linguistic issues of public concern, such as worries about the state of the language or what to do about the teaching of immigrants. Studying the English language has a more obvious practical application: It can help you to use the language more effectively."

(Greenbaum, Sidney, and Gerald Nelson. An Introduction to English Grammar , 2nd ed., Longman, 2002.)

"Grammar is the study of how sentences mean. And that is why it helps. If we want to understand the meaning conveyed by sentences, and to develop our ability to express and respond to this meaning, then the more we know about grammar, the better we will be able to carry out these tasks..."

"Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language. It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English. And it can help everyone — not only teachers of English but teachers of anything, for all teaching is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning."

(Crystal, David. Making Sense of Grammar , Longman, 2004.)

"[T]he study of your own grammatical system can be quite revealing and useful, and provides you with insights into how language, your own and others', whether spoken or signed, actually works..."

"With an understanding of how language actually works, and a concise vocabulary to talk about it, you will be equipped to make more informed decisions and choices about grammar and usage, and to tease out linguistic fact from linguistic fiction."

(Lobeck, Anne and Kristin Denham,  Navigating English Grammar: A Guide to Analyzing Real Language,  Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.)

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• Definition and Examples of Correctness in Language
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Module 1: Grammar

Why is grammar important.

Sometimes people are self-conscious about their speech and worry that the way they talk or write is “incorrect,” but as you engage with the material in this course, it’s crucial to appreciate that diversity is a value to celebrate. There are many different types of English, all of which are dynamic and complex. Not only can it be highly effective rhetorically to mesh varieties, it can also feel authentic and empowering, and you do have the right to use your own language .  

Meshing codes of English can be powerful, but the idea that there is a “correct” English has a lot of staying power. Regrettable – or outrageous – as it is politically, when you speak or write unconventionally in an academic setting, others might make judgements about who you are as a person: “lazy,” “careless,” and “incompetent” are some common judgements; on the other hand, if you have some mastery of the conventions, you might be judged to be “diligent,” “careful,” and “scholarly.” We need to acknowledge the biases of standardized English while recognizing also that it facilitates the clear and accurate communication of complex, well founded ideas to other people within the context of higher education, and within many professions. When you acquire the language, you increase your ability to craft your message to communicate more accurately what you want to convey in a way that large numbers of your peers will comprehend, which is also a powerful political privilege and responsibility.

This shared ability to communicate is where grammar comes in. Grammar is a set of conventions (and sometimes rules) that dictate how standardized English works. You might be accustomed to groaning at the mere mention of grammar, and thinking that those who care about it must be in dire need of a social life, especially if your only explicit encounters with English grammar were rules (“articles must precede nouns”) and jargon (“dangling participles,” anyone?) at some point in middle school. You’ll find at college that many professors view good grammar as a method of allowing you to join scholarly conversations and to have a voice that can be heard clearly. Professors are not generally trying to control or crush you with grammar, but rather to demonstrate – and give to you – the tools to be your own best advocate and an active participant in the educational environment. Professors want to know what you’re thinking; grammar helps you to tell them.

Whether in a post or a term paper, representing our thoughts and opinions in writing is not always easy. Although we’re pretty competent most of the time in our native language, and readers usually work with us to make sense of what they are pretty sure we must have meant, you’re in a lucky minority if you have never written an email or DM (let alone an academic essay) that has confused its recipient or frustrated you by being hard to put into words. Not unlike pouring liquids from one graduated cylinder to another, we all encounter some degree of error or loss when translating what we’re thinking to symbols on a page. And when we manage to put something in writing, we make further errors assuming how an audience will receive and analyze the intended meaning of those words. What we mean to communicate has a habit of getting lost in translation, if only because our mental lives are too complex (or, sometimes, too murky) for the act of writing to ever be foolproof. There are key ways to push back against these difficulties, however, and chief among them is our willingness to recognize and apply the conventions of grammar to our writing so that how we write does not distract from, but rather emphasizes, what we intend. By coming to terms with grammar as an adaptable system of communication, we foster stronger, more confident voices tailored to the dialogues we value most. Steven Pinker, a noted psycholinguist, comments on the importance of grammar in accurately relaying information to our peers: [1]

[Grammar] should be thought of… as one of the extraordinary adaptations in the living world: our species’ solution to the problem of getting complicated thoughts from one head into another. Thinking of grammar as the original sharing app makes it much more interesting. By understanding how the various features of grammar are designed to make sharing possible, we can put them to use in writing more clearly, correctly, and gracefully.

As a result of our familiarity with grammar, in other words, we grow closer to spanning the gap between our mind and the minds of those around us, but it is a process that advances one convention at a time.

As you go through this module, bear in mind that these are the principles and conventions for just one type of English, but you should also remember that they are tools your professors want you to wield well as you construct your scholarly self. This will not be an exhaustive survey of grammar, nor will it begin with the most basic concepts. It focuses on the problems that occur most frequently in Geneseo undergraduate writing as students look to join scholarly conversations. Some students will already be familiar with some of these ideas, and we hope that our introduction enables them to recognize that familiarity as their good fortune. Part of the democratic impulse that informs grammar is offering all students the chance to encounter and practice these conventions in an environment that will expect you to employ them: exercises in INTD 106 and more complex written assignments in courses like INTD 105 give you the grounding to write in your other courses. Once you know what you’re looking for, there’s no substitute for practice, and we invite you furthermore to mentally frame this practice in INTD 106 and INTD 105 not as an isolated exercise to “get through” but as part of a larger picture of yourself as a college student with a valuable voice.

• Steven Pinker,  The Sense of Style p. 79 ↵
• Why Is Grammar Important?. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
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The Importance of Grammar

"Grammar is the structural foundation of our abiity to express ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language. It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English."                                                                                                                   David Crystal, "In Word and Deed," TES Teacher, April 30, 2004

Grammar is not just about avoiding mistakes. Understanding how grammar works is fundamental for all writers. While it can be argued that good grammar knowledge will not necessarily make you a better writer, it is recognized that it will help make you a more effective writer. Good grammar knowledge enables you as a writer to understand what makes a piece of writing successful, so that it will capture both the interest and understanding of the reader. It helps you to know how to craft words into coherent sentences, and how to form those sentences into paragraphs that successfully convey your meaning. Punctuation is an aspect of grammar that should never be underestimated. Correctly used, it can clarify meaning while, on the other hand, lack of use can cause ambiguity. Punctuation also acts as a signposting system for the reader, indicating where to pause, and what to stress. The various sections, listed on the right hand side, provide a useful grammar overview, and will help you to enrich your writing.

The Importance of Grammar in Learning English - The Key Rules to Master

Discover the importance of grammar in learning english and the key rules to master for effective communication., introduction.

Grammar forms the foundation of any language, and learning English is no exception. The proper understanding and application of grammar rules are crucial for effective communication. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner, having a strong grasp of English grammar can significantly enhance your language skills. This article will explore the importance of grammar in learning English and provide key rules to help you master this essential aspect of the language.

Clear Communication

Grammar serves as the framework that enables clear and precise communication. It provides structure and rules for organizing words, phrases, and sentences, allowing us to convey our thoughts and ideas accurately. When grammar is used correctly, it helps eliminate ambiguity and misunderstanding, ensuring that your intended message is effectively delivered. By mastering grammar, you can express yourself with clarity and confidence, making your English communication more impactful.

Enhanced Writing Skills

Proper grammar is vital for developing strong writing skills. Whether you are writing an email, a report, or an essay, adhering to grammar rules ensures that your writing is coherent, professional, and easy to comprehend. Understanding the correct use of punctuation, verb tenses, sentence structure, and subject-verb agreement allows you to convey your ideas in a structured and organized manner. Good grammar enables you to articulate your thoughts effectively and engage your readers, leaving a positive impression.

Improved Reading Comprehension

Grammar knowledge plays a significant role in understanding written texts. When you have a solid grasp of grammar rules, you can decipher the meaning of sentences and passages more easily. Proper grammar helps identify the relationships between words and phrases, the context of the message, and the intended emphasis. By understanding the grammar in written materials, you can extract information accurately, comprehend complex texts, and expand your vocabulary in context.

Confidence in Speaking

Grammar proficiency instills confidence in spoken English. When you have a good command of grammar, you can construct grammatically correct sentences, use appropriate verb forms, and convey your ideas precisely. This confidence allows you to engage in conversations, participate in discussions, and express yourself fluently. Understanding grammar rules also enables you to understand and interpret what others say, leading to more effective communication and stronger interpersonal connections.

Key Grammar Rules to Master

While English grammar encompasses numerous rules, here are some key areas to focus on:

• Verb Tenses: Mastering the various verb tenses is essential for expressing actions and states accurately in different time frames. Understand the distinctions between present, past, and future tenses, as well as their progressive and perfect forms.
• Subject-Verb Agreement: Ensure that the subject and verb in a sentence agree in number and person. Pay attention to singular and plural nouns, as well as the use of singular or plural verb forms accordingly.
• Punctuation: Learn the proper use of punctuation marks, such as commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points. Understand how punctuation affects the structure and meaning of a sentence.
• Sentence Structure: Familiarize yourself with different sentence structures, including simple, compound, and complex sentences. Understand how to combine clauses and phrases to convey meaning effectively.
• Modal Verbs: Learn the functions and usage of modal verbs like "can," "could," "may," "might," "should," "must," etc. These verbs express possibility, necessity, permission, and ability.
• Prepositions: Understand how prepositions indicate relationships between words and phrases. Learn common prepositions and their usage in expressing time, place, direction, and other relationships.
• Articles: Grasp the correct usage of articles "a," "an," and "the." Understand when and how to use them to refer to specific or nonspecific nouns.

Practice and Resources

To master grammar, consistent practice is key. Engage in activities like reading English books, newspapers, and articles, which expose you to correct grammar usage. Write regularly and seek feedback to improve your writing skills. Additionally, online resources, grammar books, and language learning platforms provide grammar exercises, explanations, and quizzes to reinforce your understanding.

Grammar forms the backbone of effective English communication. It enhances your ability to express yourself clearly, write proficiently, comprehend written texts, and speak confidently. By mastering key grammar rules and consistently practicing, you can strengthen your language skills and elevate your overall English proficiency. Embrace grammar as a fundamental aspect of language learning, and you will unlock the doors to better communication and increased opportunities.

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Why Grammar Should Matter to You

From résumés and cover letters to narratives, make sure your grammar holds up.

Tables are for eating customers only.

You read the restaurant sign again, and once you are sure it is not a case of “eat or be eaten,” you order food. To go.

Ah, grammar. It can make a world of difference in how you approach a business establishment or how a company approaches you. How a writer tells a story and how an editor makes sure it is interpreted correctly.

Cathleen Small , one of our Professional Sequence in Editing instructors, provided that example when I asked for her take on why grammar is important to everyday life.

“Grammar matters because without it you get cringeworthy errors,” she replies.

“But my more serious answer is that using proper grammar in your communications sets you apart from the rest. Even if the person reading your correspondence doesn’t actively think, ‘Wow, nice use of grammar!’ they certainly notice. If two people with similar qualifications submit a résumé and cover letter for an open job, and one has a flawless cover letter while the other one has some grammatical errors, I guarantee the error-free, grammatically correct one will get the first call.”

And that is just one of the many reasons why grammar skills matter.

In Your Professional Life

Cover letters and résumés.

According to a February 2020 article on careertoolbelt.com , typographical errors—commonly referred to as typos—hinder your ability to make a good first impression. A lack of attention to detail in a cover letter, which in many cases is the organization’s introduction to you and what you bring to the table, can be a red flag.

Alison Doyle , a Career Tool Belt contributor , says:

“What you have to say (and how you write) will be most important, but formatting, spelling and grammar are equally important. After all, almost all jobs require strong communication skills and a sharp attention-to-detail, so hiring managers will be looking to see these skills play out in your résumé and cover letter.”

Avoiding typos and other grammatical errors in your documents is especially important if the job to which you are applying is in a writing, editing or marketing capacity.

Drew Roark on TopResume ® agrees:

“Mistakes on your résumé can expose traits about yourself, which can ultimately keep an employer from offering you a job. Employers are less concerned about your spelling (knowing you probably just made a typo) and more concerned with the fact that you overlooked an error, which speaks volumes about your tendencies.”

In Education

College applications and personal essays.

The importance of grammar skills extends into other areas, such as when you want to apply to colleges or universities or be admitted into a specialized educational program. In addition to knowing how to write a cover letter and edit your résumé to be free of errors, you may also need to submit a personal statement or essay as part of your application.

But would a grammatical error on one of those documents really keep you from your educational goal? It could, according to Randeep Kullar , manager for Berkeley Global’s Career Services .

“The biggest thing that I've noticed in reviewing any kind of document—whether it be résumés, cover letters, admissions essays, et cetera—is that the minute there is a grammatical error, it pulls me away from the content,” says Randeep.

“It's an automatic red flag for me that makes me wonder things like:

Is the error due to the individual not paying attention to detail?

Did they not review their work?

Did they not take this opportunity seriously?

What does this mean if I were to admit this individual to a program?

Will they be able to clearly communicate?

Will they make small mistakes because they don't pay attention to detail or review their work?

“Once this reaction has passed, I look to find context.”

Context can play a big part in understanding grammar, for both the writer and the reader. For example, if your grammar mistake is one typo, it might be overlooked. But if it is a consistent issue throughout the document, you’d better have another piece of work that shows that you have a balanced and holistic understanding of your application.

Randeep also takes into account if English is a second language for an applicant.

“If I see that this may be the case, then I will take this into consideration and give them a bit of leeway, as learning another language is a feat unto itself that shows how adaptable and versatile the individual is in other ways.

“Overall, grammar is important, and it points to a variety of skills that employers, schools, et cetera, look for in candidates. However, any good reviewer of an application will take context into consideration and look at supporting documentation or details, if available, that paint a more comprehensive approach of a candidate.”

Let’s look a little deeper at the role of English language in grammar.  

Understanding the English Language

Longtime Grammar, Mechanics and Usage for Editors course instructor Barbara Magalnick believes in grammar’s everyday importance, and that you need to understand the structure of the English language.

“Every language has its own structure, and English is particularly interesting because it’s a modern language—only about 1,500 years old,” Barbara says. “I like students to be aware of the basic sentence patterns in English because they can use them to build a solid grammar foundation.

“I don’t believe in ‘prescriptive grammar’—grammar that teaches students rules about how language should be. This kind of ‘grammar teaching’ attempts to convince students that they cannot end a sentence with a preposition (never mind that Milton and Shakespeare did it regularly).”

Another benefit of understanding English grammar and any anomalies for your everyday missives? A deeper comprehension of what you read.

“I’ve noticed through the years—and very much so in the Extension courses I teach—that those who do well with grammar seem to have good reading comprehension. Because good reading comprehension is important for all subjects, I cannot stress how important it is to have a strong background in grammar.”

Grammar Knowledge Is a Science

Grammar can be especially important when you are writing a grant proposal, making another type of ask or sending any type of business communication. A blog post on CXL points out that grammar mistakes can cost companies money . Proper grammar matters across fields.

It can also cost you job advancement. According to that same blog post:

“Professionals who failed to progress to a director-level position within the first 10 years of their careers made 2.5 times as many grammar mistakes as their director-level colleagues.

Fewer grammar errors correlate with more promotions. The study found that professionals with one to four promotions over their 10-year careers made 45% more grammar errors than those with six to nine promotions in the same time frame.”

Those unfavorable outcomes are why it’s so important to understand the mechanics of grammar and how to use it correctly.

“Grammar is critical to spoken and written language; if humans didn't know what order to put our words in, we would really struggle to communicate verbally,” says instructor Liz Asborno , who has worked in publishing for more than 30 years in various roles.

“There is both an art and a science to writing; grammar is the science,” Liz continues.

So while understanding and utilizing best grammar practices may seem like a job requirement if you’re solely working in a writing or editing position, we see that’s not the case. It’s important for anybody to make sure that his or her message is heard and understood—through the use of good grammar.

Let’s return to our sign example from earlier.

To avoid potential customers first thinking they could be eaten in your restaurant, consider how you would edit: Tables are for eating customers only.

Don’t let a grammar mistake affect your bottom line.

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Make Your Essay Structure Rock-Solid with These Tips

So you’ve been assigned an essay. Or, probably more realistically, two, three, or four essays  . . . and they’re all due the same week. 

We’ve all been there: overwhelmed, staring down that blank screen, and not sure which essay to start with or how to get it started. 

In high school and college, it’s not enough to just write strong essays. One of the most important skills to develop is writing strong essays efficiently . And the foundation of that skill is knowing how to structure an essay. With a template for the basic essay structure in hand, you can focus on what really matters when you’re writing essays: your arguments and the evidence you’re using to support them. Take a look at the basic essay structure below and see how the parts of an essay work together to present a coherent, well-reasoned position, no matter what topic you’re writing about. 

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Basic essay structure: the 3 main parts of an essay

Almost every single essay that’s ever been written follows the same basic structure: 

Introduction

Body paragraphs.

This structure has stood the test of time for one simple reason: It works. It clearly presents the writer’s position, supports that position with relevant examples, and neatly ties their supporting arguments together in a way that makes their position evident. 

It all starts here. This is where you introduce the topic you’re discussing in your essay and briefly summarize the points you’ll make in the paragraphs that follow. 

This is also where you state your thesis. Your thesis is the most important part of your essay because it’s the point you’re making . It needs to take a clear stance and shouldn’t include hedging language that undermines that stance like “seems to” or “possibly could.”

Here are a few examples of thesis statements:

• In the final scene of The Awakening , Edna Pontellier’s decision demonstrates that it was impossible for her to have the lifestyle she truly wanted in the society in which she lived.
• Due to its volatility and lack of government regulation, Bitcoin cannot become a viable currency for everyday purchases.
• While the habitability of Mars has not yet been proven, evidence suggests that it was once possible due to bacteria samples found on the Red Planet.

An easy way to write your thesis statement is to think of it as a summary of your essay. Your thesis makes and supports your essay’s point in one concise sentence. 

When you proofread your finished essay, make sure your thesis is clearly stated in your introduction paragraph. If it’s not clear, go back and write a definitive thesis statement. 

>>Read More: How to Write a Persuasive Essay

Your essay’s body paragraphs are where you support your thesis statement with facts and evidence. Each body paragraph should focus on one supporting argument for your thesis by discussing related data, content, or events. 

If you’re not sure whether you should include a specific point or detail in your body paragraphs, refer back to your thesis statement. If the detail supports your thesis, it should be in your essay. If it doesn’t, leave it out. Your thesis statement is the core of your basic essay structure, so everything else in the essay needs to relate to it in some way. 

In your essay’s conclusion paragraph , you summarize the points you made and bring your argument to its logical conclusion. Because your reader is now familiar with your thesis, the summary in your conclusion paragraph can be more direct and conclusive than the one in your intro paragraph.

>>Read More: 7 Writing Tips from Professors to Help you Crush your First Essays

How many paragraphs are in an essay?

There’s no hard-and-fast requirement for college essays. In high school, you were probably taught to write five-paragraph essays. This is a solid essay structure to work with, but in college, you generally have more flexibility with assignment lengths and formats. 

Now, consider five the minimum—not the standard—number of paragraphs you should include in your essays. 

Essay structure examples

There are a few different ways to present information in an essay. Often, your assignment will tell you what kind of essay to write, such as a chronological, compare and contrast, or problems-methods-solution essay. If you’re not sure which is best for your assignment, ask your instructor. 

Chronological

A chronological essay guides the reader through a series of events. This essay structure is ideal if you’re writing about:

• A current or historical event
• A book or article you read for class
• A process or procedure

With this kind of essay, you first introduce your topic and summarize the series of events in your introduction paragraph. Then, each body paragraph takes the reader through a key stage in that series, which might be a decisive battle in history, a pivotal scene in a novel, or a critical stage in a judicial process. In your conclusion, you present the end result of the series you discussed, underscoring your thesis with this result. 

Compare and contrast

A compare-and-contrast essay has a structure that discusses multiple subjects, like several novels, concepts, or essays you’ve been assigned to read.

There are a few different ways to structure a compare-and-contrast essay. The most obvious is to spend one paragraph discussing the similarities between the topics you’re covering (comparing), then one paragraph detailing their differences (contrasting), followed by a paragraph that explores whether they’re more alike or more different from each other. 

Another method is to only compare, where each of your body paragraphs discusses a similarity between the topics at hand. Or you can go the only-contrast route, where your body paragraphs explore the differences. Whichever you decide on, make sure each paragraph is focused on one topic sentence . Every new comparison or contrast should occupy its own paragraph.

Problems-methods-solution

As its name implies, this kind of essay structure presents the writer’s position in three segments:

• Ways to resolve the problem 
• The solution achieved by using these strategies to resolve the problem 

This kind of essay works great if you’re discussing methods for resolving a problem, like knowing how to distinguish between credible and non-credible sources when you’re doing research for assignments. It can also work when you’re tasked with explaining why certain solutions haven’t worked to fix the problems they were created for. 

With this kind of essay, begin by introducing the problem at hand. In the subsequent body paragraphs, cover possible methods for resolving the problem, discussing how each is suited to fixing the problem, and potential challenges that can arise with each. You can certainly state which you think is the best choice—that could even be your thesis statement. In your conclusion paragraph, summarize the problem again and the desired resolution, endorsing your method of choice (if you have one). 

In this kind of essay, you can also include a call to action in your final paragraph. A call to action is a direct order for the reader to take a specific action, like “call your congressperson today and tell them to vote no” or “visit grammarly.com today to add Grammarly browser extension for free.”

>>Read More: How to Write Better Essays: 5 Concepts you Must Master

With the basic essay structure down, you can get to writing

For a lot of students, getting started is the hardest part of writing an essay. Knowing how to structure an essay can get you past this seemingly insurmountable first step because it gives you a clear skeleton upon which to flesh out your thoughts. With that step conquered, you’re on your way to crushing your assignment.

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Why Is Grammar Important?

• 32 min read
• March 26, 2017
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Gabriel Wyner

Founder & CEO

Updated on January 22, 2024

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Why Is Grammar Important for Language Learning?

Ever wondered why grammar is important when learning a language, and why knowledge of grammar is useful for going about our daily lives and making our mark in the world? 

In this article, I explore what grammar is, why it matters, and what purpose it has in ensuring effective communication. Then, I suggest tried-and-tested ways to improve your knowledge of grammar.

Next, I highlight important grammar rules you should know, before moving on to some common grammatical mistakes and how to fix them for good. Finally, I share with you something I wrote on how grammar works and what it does, which I originally intended to include as a chapter in my Fluent Forever book. 

So, without further ado, let’s begin by exploring the definition of grammar.

What is grammar?  

Oxford Dictionaries Online defines grammar as “ the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.”  

In simpler terms, the reason why grammar is important is because it comprises the building blocks of a language, and its rules help us to form words and sentences to communicate effectively. 

Reasons why grammar is important for your communication and achievements

1. getting the message across as clearly as possible.

Grammar is a process of putting together different bits of linguistic information to help us paint a picture, describe a scene, or communicate our thoughts and observations. When we write or speak, using correct grammar is important as it enables our readers or listeners to understand us loud and clear. On the other hand, not only do ungrammatical utterances and sentences lead to a lack of clarity, but we also risk sending the wrong message as incorrect grammar leaves room for misinterpretation. A solid foundation in grammatical knowledge allows us to fully express ourselves with clarity and accuracy.

Effective communication through good grammar usage plays an important part in our daily interactions, whether in personal, social, or professional contexts. For example, you’re more likely to gain your friends’ trust and avoid mishaps if you’re a clear communicator. Likewise, sending well-written emails, instructions, and other professional documents would leave no cause for confusion or misunderstanding among coworkers.

2. An essential tool to learn, understand, and appreciate languages

Another factor behind why grammar is important is that grammar is really and truly a language in itself. It allows us to talk about particular languages we’re learning and about language in general. Across different languages, we can identify, describe, and refer to the different components of a word, phrase, or sentence by using concepts of grammar and other terminology. 

In this way, grammar helps us to communicate about a language’s building blocks so that we learn and understand its dynamics and nuances more efficiently. Jump straight to here to find out more about noun cases; pronouns; verb tenses, aspects, and modes; function words, and more.

3. The key to academic and professional success

If first impressions count, a good command of grammar will undoubtedly always make lasting ones. And that is why grammar is important for your educational and professional achievements. Grammatically correct written and oral communication will get you places, starting with obtaining high grades in school, high school, and later in college and university. It’s the difference in how well you express yourself in your exam papers, application forms, cover letters, resumes, and interviews that will help get your name on that program at that prestigious educational institution or land you your dream job. Later in life, it’s that attention to detail and flawlessness in your delivery of reports, proposals, and presentations that will earn you a well-deserved promotion and facilitate a promising career growth path. 

We all make mistakes, but there’s a big divide between the occasional slip of the tongue or typo and having abysmally poor communication skills during interviews – or glaring errors popping up regularly in your official work communications. Why is grammar important in the real world, then? If you want to succeed in your academic and professional pursuits, grammatical accuracy and clarity are assets you must champion and nurture in everything you say and write.

What is the purpose of grammar?

Grammar functions as a bridge between what you intend or mean when you write or say something and what your readers or listeners understand. It does this by acting as what I call a stage director, assigning roles to each component of a word or sentence so that everything comes together to convey the right meaning and message. You can read more about this analogy in my chapter below.

Why is the role of grammar so important in communicating the right message, then? Think of how a single apostrophe changes the meaning in “your French” and “you’re French,” “builders’ work” and “builders work,” “hairdressers’ shop” and “hairdressers shop.” Similarly, the sense in “fish, eat, and sleep” is different from “fish eat and sleep,” where the absence of punctuation changes the subject doing the action. 

Knowing a language’s grammar is important to help you distinguish the changes and nuances so that you’ll know exactly what to use in the right context.

What are the benefits of learning grammar?

Next, let’s build on the reasons why grammar is important to explore the different ways it can be useful to us as we go about our lives.

We’ve already indicated that having good grammar skills opens doors across a multitude of scenarios, whether in your day-to-day interactions, social relationships, or educational achievements and employment opportunities. The right grammar usage in your writing and speech buys you bonus points all along your way to career progression and academic success.

Needless to say, a solid foundation in grammar will come in super handy when learning a new language. Having those concepts ingrained in your brain enables you to compare similarities and spot differences between your native tongue and your target language. By building on these observations, you will develop a sound understanding of the latter’s structure as you practice your way to fluency.  And that is why grammar is important for a language learner’s success.

What’s the best way to improve your grammar skills?

Here are some proven methods to approach your grammar learning and make it stick:

1. Learn grammar intuitively

Even though you know why grammar is important and may be keen to learn it, you mustn’t force i t. To learn grammar, you don’t need to pore over thick textbooks and grammar tomes for endless hours. Instead, let the language and its sounds flow freely out of you first. Get practicing your speaking and writing skills at every opportunity you get , and figure out the structure and rules later. Once you reach that stage of wanting to know more about how your target language works, go to the next step. 

2. Go translation-free

Avoid translation as much as possible when learning a new language and its essential grammar rules. Getting immersed in your target language will help you familiarize yourself with its sounds and structure directly, without having to depend on an intermediate language for explanations. Pick or create example sentences, making sure you really understand their meaning before proceeding to create flashcards to focus on the grammatical aspects. The way to understand the workings of your new language using flashcards comes in 4 easy steps, which I explain in this article .

Hint: The Fluent Forever app automates flashcard creation so you can focus on your learning progress while it takes care of the rest.

3. Practice with native speakers

Practice with native speakers to pick up the right way of saying things. Choose topics to discuss that are important and relevant to you, and it will become easier to engage in conversation, remember things such as word order and verb conjugations, and grasp the grammar rules at work.

Chat with native speakers as a super-effective way to practice good grammar! Image by Fauxels from Pexels

4. Read a lot!

Absorbing grammatical structures such as verb conjugations, noun-verb agreement, word order, and language nuances happens unconsciously when you’re reading. You’ll also notice that your writing automatically improves as a result.

Hint: Check out our guide to The Fastest Way To Learn a Language for more tried-and-tested tips to optimize your knowledge of grammar and supercharge your language journey.

Knowing the most important grammar rules and topics

What are the key components of a language’s grammar? We can establish five fundamentals that allow us to create meaning in our communication: they are punctuation, verb tense, word order, determiners, and connectors. 

The more you commit to learning and progress in your language journey, the quicker you’ll be able to internalize these rules and apply them effortlessly. Ultimately, you’ll be a far more advanced speaker of a language once you’ve mastered elements such as irregular plurals and verbs, gendered articles, and sentence formation.

The chapter below delves into the most important aspects of English grammar, and then teaches you how to apply your knowledge of those principles to a new language. 

Common grammatical errors

While we all acknowledge w hy grammar is important to learn and master, we still make mistakes, right? Here are some common errors most of us are guilty of when it comes to using grammar in our native or target languages: 

• Wrong sentence structure and word order
• Incorrect subject-verb agreements and tenses
• Missing, unnecessary, or misplaced punctuation marks
• Spelling mistakes
• Misuse of homophones e.g. “were” and “where”

Remember, there is a solution to fix these errors – especially if they’re already ingrained in your brain. First off, keep reading, then read some more! I cannot emphasize enough how important this activity is in helping you intuitively absorb the grammar of a language, and to iron out incorrect usage. Plus, practicing your speech with a native speaker, such as by working with a personal language coach , will do wonders for weeding out any bad habits.

Bonus: Grammar chapter 

And now we come to the promised bonus offering: the full chapter on grammar I wrote when I was working on Fluent Forever . Ultimately, my editor and I decided to cut it because it interrupted the flow of the book, and because people tend to dislike grammar since it can be confusing and finicky. I think we made the right decision with the book, but still, I liked the idea behind that chapter. 

I’ve talked to so many people who feel confused and annoyed about grammar, and I’ve always wanted to sit them down and explain why grammar is something important that’s both graspable and beautiful. So I’m sharing that whole chapter here. I hope you enjoy it!

Note: I’m including a table of contents here at the start. The idea of that is so you can come back to this chapter later on and jump around to useful sections if you want a refresher on what cases are, or what a tense is, etc.

Grammar: The Stage Director of Language

A language’s grammar is a kind of stage director, assigning roles to the various words in a sentence, and telling them how to interact. Let’s take a moment to look at a grammar-less sentence:

SLEEP EAT WORK EAT WORK EAT SLEEP .

This sentence works just fine as it is; you don’t always need a stage director to tell simple stories. It’s only when I wish to explain what  was eaten or who ate, that I’m going to run into problems without the aid of grammar. If I say ‘ EAT COW’ (or ‘COW EAT’), you might be able to infer that I was the eater and the cow was the meal, if only because I was the one who said it and cows are herbivores, but it’s already quite vague. Perhaps I was telling you to eat a cow, or perhaps I was describing a cow eating. As soon as I try something not involving herbivores or myself, like LION ALLIGATOR EAT , we’re both screwed. Who’s doing what? At its simplest level, grammar is all about finding ways to answer that simple question.

I want to walk you through several different ways that languages can answer the Who ’ s doing What question. My goal is for you to learn to step back from the details and get a bird ’ s eye view of grammar ’ s job as a stage director. Once you ’ ve done that, then you can step back in and learn your particular language ’ s grammar system with a better sense of perspective. That should make grammar a little less intimidating. Let ’ s start with this sentence:

The man eats the cake.

English is a syntax (word-order) heavy language. We can say sentences like this, but we not can say sentences like this. Going back to our man-cake sentence, we see two players: the man and the cake. Our man is the active player (the subject), and our cake is the acted-upon player (the object).

There are two things to note here:

First, there’s a traditional order to an English sentence , where the verb comes after the subject, and the object comes after the verb. Man [s] eats [v] cake [o]. This is referred to as SVO (subject – verb – object) order, which is the second most common word order, encompassing 42% of the world’s languages (including the Romance languages, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Arabic). ⁠ The majority of languages, 45%, are SOV (subject – object – verb: The man the cake eats), which you’ll find in Japanese, Hindi, and Turkish, for example. Once upon a time, English, too, had SOV structure until the Normans invaded in 1066. We can still see this in archaic phrases like “With this ring, I thee wed” and “Till death do us part.” ⁠  The other word order possibilities (VSO, VOS, OVS, OSV) are rare, with the rarest being Yoda’s Object-Subject-Verb (“The cake the man eats.”), which shows up in a few languages of the Amazon basin.

Second, English word order is very inflexible. If you mess with the order, you either produce gibberish or a different meaning: “The cake eats the man” paints a very different picture, and “The the eat cake man” means nothing. English is known as a fixed word order language. Other languages ( “ free word order languages”) are much more flexible. Here’s a similar sentence in Russian:

男 が ドーナツ を 食べる。 Otoko ga dōnatsu o taberu. Man (subject) donut (object) eats.

I can switch around が (ga [subject]) and を (o [object]) and make the donut eat the man:

男 を ドーナツ が 食べる。 Otoko wo dōnatsu ga taberu. Man (object) donut (subject) eats.

This is a legal, if untraditional and SOV-defying, move that emphasizes the weirdness of a man being eaten by a donut (implying that it’d be perfectly normal if a donut were to eat, say, a hamburger). Japanese has less flexibility than Russian; I can move the subject and object around, but the verb must stay at the end of the sentence. There is a spectrum of strictness when it comes to order: English is relatively strict, Russian is relatively free, and you’ll find languages that land between them or to either side (Chinese tends to be stricter with word order than English, ⁠4 and the aboriginal language Warlpiri doesn’t even have a default word order like the SVO of Russian).

Yet another strategy for assigning roles involves storing role information within the verb. Here’s a pair of example sentences from a modern dialect of Aramaic, spoken in northern Iraq ⁠ .

The verb kemxaz-ya-le (Saw-she-him) indicates that the girl was doing the seeing, while kemxaz-e-la (saw-he-her) indicates the opposite. Clearly, there are a lot of ways that grammar can operate when you jump from language to language, but fundamentally, it’s all doing the exact same thing: it’s acting as a stage director, assigning roles to each character in a story, and telling them what to do. It’s the arbiter of who does what.

The better you can hold on to that idea of grammar as a stage director, the less frightening a new grammatical system will become. This is a concept that takes time to get used to, but eventually, it becomes second nature. You’ll be able to look at a complex sentence like “I’m going to give my girlfriend some chocolates before our date next week” and see the chunks of information within that sentence, along with their associated roles or functions: (I – subject, chocolates – object, her – target of giving, etc. ).

Mastering a new grammatical system then becomes a matter of learning how your new language assigns the same roles to tell the same story:

Ich werde nächste Woche vor unserem Rendezvous meiner Freundin Schokoladen geben. I     will       next     week  before     our        date         my        girlfriend    chocolates     give.

One way to get more comfortable with this idea is to really understand your native language. So let’s take some sentences in English and look at them very closely.

Some Basic Anatomy of the English Language – And How To Use It To Understand Other Languages

Grammar isn’t always simple, but sometimes people like to add an unnecessary and inaccurate air of mysticism to it – “You would need to be born in Japan to truly understand what the Japanese mean with this particular grammatical construction!”  Ugh.

Alternatively, you may run into grammar books that casually talk about cases, registers, and verb modes without really explaining what they mean. So I want to walk you through a language that you probably know pretty well – English – and show you all the grammar you’re already familiar with. We’ll start with the following sentence: John gives his girlfriend his father’s weed-whacker.

Noun Cases: The Who, The What, The To Whom, The Whose, The Where, etc.

“Cases” are just a fancy way of saying “Roles for nouns in a sentence.” Our example sentence contains four of the most common cases you’ll find:

John’s girlfriend

John’s father

weed-whacker

Nominative (John) : Related to our word name , this case names the main player of our sentence, the subject. This tends to be the ‘basic’ form of the word, found in the dictionary. English has lost many of its case markers, but we still have them in our pronouns: you can say he did something, but not him did something. I, he, she, we and they are all exclusively in the nominative case. Our current second person pronoun, you , has eaten up four older pronouns in our language: thou, thee, ye and you . Of these, thou (singular) and ye (plural) were both in the nominative case.

Accusative ( weed-whacker) : Often referred to as a ‘direct object,’ our weed-whacker is the target of the verb, gives, since John has to give his girlfriend something . In this case, it’s the passive player in our story, but that doesn’t have to be the case. In John fears his weed-whacker and John scares his weed-whacker , there’s quite a bit of variance in the activeness of our lawn care instrument. In the end, while these cases do define traditional roles (Nominative: Active subject, Accusative: Passive object), the individual verbs are always king, and they make demands. The words dine and devour are fairly similar, but you can’t dine a hamburger or simply devour without an object to be devoured. ⁠ Cases assign roles to the nouns in the sentence; it’s the verbs who direct the play.

Dative (his girlfriend) : The Dative case was known in Latin as the case for giving , and it’s common in situations involving 3 players (I sent you a can of tuna, you can cry me a river, etc.) English often uses prepositions to mark nouns for this role (I gave it to him, I made it for him). Over the course of history, we have lost most of our dative case pronouns, and with them, we have lost a clear sense of the dative case. By the 14 th century, the Old English dative hwone and the accusative hwān had merged into a combined dative/accusative pronoun whom , just as hine and him merged into him , hīe and hire into her , and hit and him into it . This process continues today, as the nominative pronoun who slowly devours whom .

Genitive (his father’s) : Genitive is a special case that sticks nouns together. In our example, it’s used for ownership, tying weed-whacker to his father , but there are many other reasons you might want to connect nouns. English often uses the preposition of : Heat of the sun , a loaf of bread , day of doom , etc. Our possessive construction – ’s – is one of the last remnants of a genitive case marker in English, though you can still see traces of it in some compound words like doomsday .

Nouns can play all sorts of roles, but these four tend to be the most common. Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the great-great-grandfather of English, Latin, German, Russian, and Hindi, had eight cases, currently covered in English by prepositions. In the PIE language, you could indicate that a given noun was a location (He did it in his backyard) , an instrument (a weed-whacker made by hand ), an origin (it came out of the garage ), or an addressee ( Samantha , John gave me a weed whacker), just by changing the endings of the nouns: Samanthap, John gave me a handot weed whacker garagen backyardi .

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) was spoken 6 millennia ago in regions of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. 3 billion people currently speak languages descended from PIE, making it the largest language family on earth. Its existence was first postulated in 1786, when British philologist Sir William Jones noticed strange similarities between Sanskrit, ancient Greek, and Latin.

He proposed that they came from a common source, and that source has since become known as PIE. Nearly 450 modern languages have been connected to PIE, and as such, linguists have been able to reconstruct it in detail, even down to the majority of its sounds. For a language that had no writing system and hasn’t been heard in millennia, the reconstruction of PIE is one of the most impressive accomplishments of historical linguistics.

The next time someone tries to impress you with facts like “Hungarian is the hardest language in the world; it has 18 cases!,” feel free to brush them off. English has 18 cases too. We just use prepositions and context to convey them, instead of using suffixes to do it, like Hungarian does.

Pronouns, Formality, and Register

“Personal pronouns and adjectives are a fruitful nuisance in this language, and should have been left out. For instance, the same sound, SIE, means YOU, and it means SHE, and it means HER, and it means IT, and it means THEY, and it means THEM. Think of the ragged poverty of a language which has to make one word do the work of six – and a poor little weak thing of only three letters at that. But mainly, think of the exasperation of never knowing which of these meanings the speaker is trying to convey. This explains why, whenever a person says SIE to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.” — Mark Twain, The Awful German Language

Pronouns, our familiar friends I, he, she, they, you , etc., act as stand-ins for nouns we’ve already mentioned, and are a common feature in most languages. They help you quickly nail down the participants in your conversations, allowing you to talk about a certain John and Sarah as ‘they’ instead of constantly going back to ‘John and Sarah did this and John and Sarah did that.’ As mentioned above, English pronouns come in a few cases (and even genders!), and that’s a standard pattern; gender and case help identify precisely which participant from your previous sentence is playing a role in your new one. You’ll find that many languages have a great deal more pronouns than English. Our ‘we’ is handily broken up into four pronouns in Cherokee: ‘you and me,’ ‘someone else and me,’ ‘several other people and me,’ and ’you, me, and one or more other people.’ This would make ‘ We should get dinner’ much less vague in all sorts of contexts.

Learning Pronouns Without Translations

Learning pronouns without the use of English involves finding some decent pictures that show a person pointing to another person, pointing to himself, etc. I had a bunch of pronoun images commissioned for this purpose over here .

One pronoun-related nuance that English has lost is the concept of grammatical formality. Once upon a time, when we still had thou, thee, ye , and you , we used the singular thou and thee to speak to a family member or a friend, and the plural ye and you to speak to a stranger or a boss. Now we can’t be quite as passive-aggressive and insulting as we once could: “Well of course ye mayeth take my sandwich from the work fridge.” Many languages use special pronouns to mark relationships between people, which demands a certain awareness of social rank, age and familiarity that English speakers just don’t need to think about.

Overarching changes in pronouns, grammar, word choice, and pronunciation combine to form the concept of register – how your language changes depending on your relationship with the people you’re talking with. Register is what makes us say “I’m gunna get ice cream” to our friends and “I will send you project requirements by four o’clock tomorrow” in work correspondence.

Some languages are quite demanding in this respect: Korean has an involved system of required honorific terms and verb endings covering six different levels of social interaction, between peers, different family members, subordinates, etc. The speaker’s identity, too, can come into play. To quote Sioux activist Russel Means, “the odd thing about [the movie Dances with Wolves] is, they had a woman teaching the actors the Lakota language. But Lakota has a male-gendered language and a female-gendered language. Some of the Indians and Kevin Costner were speaking in the feminine way. When I went to see it with a bunch of Lakota guys, we were laughing.” ⁠ Learning which contexts demand which register is as much a cultural question as one of grammar.

Verb Tense and Aspect (Time)

English’s grammar tends to be simple on many fronts compared to other languages, but we blow many languages out of the water when it comes to time. We are insanely detailed when it comes to the exact relationships of several actions, and whether they were simultaneous, completed, almost finished before being interrupted, etc. Someone can have been walking to the store for five minutes when his friend (whom he had called just five minutes before, and who had just had her birthday the previous day) calls and asks him what he might be doing the following day for lunch.

If you tease apart English’s verb forms, you’ll find that we indicate time in two different ways. Precisely when something occurred determines a verb’s tense (I saw it, I see it, I’ll see it), but I can talk about the same event in quite a few different ways: I walked (and now I’m done), I was walking (when something else happened), I used to walk (but now I drive a Segway), I’ve walked (and I’m done with that now), I had been walking (for five minutes when you called). Our sense of the verb’s progression – whether it’s completed, interrupted, never going to happen again, repeated, planned, etc. determines its aspect.

This gives me an excuse to talk about African American Vernacular English, or Ebonics. AAVE has a special aspect (in the present tense) that standard English is lacking, known as the habitual be form, used for describing regular, habitual actions. In one study, African American and Caucasian kids were shown a picture of Sesame Street characters Elmo and Cookie Monster. In the picture, Elmo is eating cookies and Cookie Monster is cookieless, sick in bed. The researcher asked each kid “Who is eating cookies?” and all kids pointed to Elmo. Then she asked, “Who be eating cookies?” African American kids pointed to Cookie Monster, as in “Sure, Elmo is eating cookies now , but Cookie Monster be eating cookies in general.”

Tense can be divided in all manner of ways, from the familiar past/present/future of English to the six tenses of Kalaw Lagaw Ya, a language spoken in the islands off of Queensland, Australia that distinguishes between the remote past (Once upon a time…), the recent past (I went to France last year), the today past (I ate breakfast this morning), the present (I’m eating lunch now), the today future (Dinner’s going to be delicious) and the remote future (My next birthday is going to be awesome).

A basic tenet of linguistics ⁠ is that you can always convey the same thoughts in any language. English can express the same fine time distinctions as Kalaw Lagaw Ya; we just rely on context and precise time indications to do it. You can usually assume that “dinner’s going to be delicious” is about tonight’s dinner, unless we’ve already talked about a dinner date we arranged for tomorrow. In your language, you’re going to find a mixture of explicit time distinctions, expressed through verbs and other functional words (I did it yesterday , I just started) to further nail down when something happened. For a language that’s more precise in its grammar than English in tense or aspect, you will become hyper-aware of time. It’s one of the odder consequences of picking up a second language – you learn to start paying attention to things you never really thought about before.

Verb Mode (Sureness, Necessity, Possibility)

There are a number of ways you can alter a verb in English in order to detail how much information you have, how sure you are about it, and the likelihood of the thing you’re saying being true or possible. These are subtle distinctions, for which we either use modal verbs “She might be in the shower” or simply add an extra verb, e.g. to think : “I think she’s in the shower.” In both cases, you’ve expressed your not-so-sureness about the situation. This is modality.

Many languages have colorful and elaborate ways of expressing modality, as in this Yiddish idiom: “Az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde” (If my grandmother had balls, she’d be my grandfather) , where the verb mode makes it clear that you know that your bobe doesn’t have beytsim , even if you’re talking about them ⁠ . Mode can tell the listener about your attitude towards what you’re saying; many languages have verb forms that will indicate the source of your information (hearsay, confirmed facts, etc) and how much you believe it, letting you say something like “John is a good guy,” while clearly conveying that “ John thinks John is a good guy, but we all know that he’s a jerk.”

Tense, aspect, and mode will frequently intertwine, as they do in English. ‘Will’ can provide many different mixtures, from the simple future tense “I will eat a cookie” to the present tense, obligatory mode, “You will get me a cookie. (Right. Now.)” Different languages will mix these in different degrees and combinations.

Verb-Noun Agreement

___ am a shoe.

English has a few remnants left of verb-noun agreement, which is why you know that the proper word to fill in the blank above is “I,” even if the context is odd. We’ve lost what used to be a fairly developed agreement system, where as late as the 18 th century, we were still saying ‘I have,’ ‘thou hast,’ and ‘he hath.’ What’s the point?

Redundancy: languages are full of it. Even if I delete mst f th vwls n a sntnce, you can still reconstruct it; for English, studies estimate that slightly more than half of our letters are redundant, and they expect even more than that level of redundancy in our sounds. ⁠ Since we both slur our words and hear imperfectly, redundancy helps us reconstruct what our conversation partner meant to say, even if failed to say completely .

In some languages, you’ll find so much verb-noun agreement that certain pronouns become unnecessary. Italian is one of these, where ‘ Io sono una scarpa’ (I am a shoe) and ‘ Sono una scarpa’ (Am a shoe) are both perfectly legal sentences – the first one emphasizes the I , as in ‘Whatever you may be, I am a shoe.’

Function Words: Dummy verbs, Prepositions, Articles, and Conjunctions

What does “does” mean?

There are a number of words in English that can be lumped together under the broad term “function words.” These words don’t mean much of anything on their own, but they help form the basic silhouette of a sentence, immediately establishing whether it is a question, the roles of the nouns, etc. While “I waiting tell you I trouble” may be roughly understandable, “I have been waiting to tell you that I am in trouble” is much more comprehensible.

You’ll find that the most common words in any language will be its function words; the top ten list in English includes eight of them: the, be, of, and, a, to, in, and have (the other two are the pronouns he and it ). These are the raw fabric of the language, within which meaningful words are embedded. And to be fair, prepositions like “in” do convey some concrete meaning – “in” tends to be a reference to the inner side of something (“It’s in the refrigerator!”), but there’s no special reason why we do things in November and on Monday. We use certain words in certain places because we have agreed to do so, and as such, the meaning of an individual function word – like “does,” above – is much less important than its traditional location in a sentence.

As with verb-noun agreement, these words are another source of redundancy that helps speakers and listeners understand each other, and every language will have a smattering of these words in nearly every sentence, to help indicate what sort of thought you’re trying to convey (like our “does” question above).

And with that, we’re through with the biggest sticking points in grammar. The next time you run into a tricky passage in your grammar book that casually tosses off the term “Verb Mode” without sufficient explanation, come back here and review what that means in English, so you can realize that it’s something you already know about, rather than some completely new way of conceiving of the world.

If I missed something important, let me know in the comments! While I don’t necessarily want this article to become a book on its own ( those books have already been written , and are excellent), I would like this to cover the terms and concepts that most people struggle with.

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The Professional Importance of Grammar and How it Should be Taught

Over the years, language learning has developed with increasing disregard toward proper grammar. Rather than focusing on syntax, educators are increasingly concerned with language fluency, which stems from a communicative language teaching approach rather than a traditional syntactical approach. This lack of grammar teaching coincides with an era of technology that has similarly impacted a generation of people to stray from formal communication methods. When studying how the lack of grammar in education affects the professional sphere, it is important to consider not only employer expectations, but also how clients view and feel about informal communication methods. In an era where communication is getting faster and becoming more terse, it is necessary to view opinions of grammar not only from the perspective of older employers, but also from the perspective of the new generation of clients, purchasers, and scholars.

Introduction

Writing simply would not be writing without the rules that shape words and string together sentences into fluid paragraphs and comprehensible arguments. We use these rules every day while sending text messages, writing essays, producing business reports, or even when we update Facebook statuses. Yet, despite the prevalence of writing in our everyday lives, proper grammar has been kicked to the curb. The apparent grammar disconnect is hard to trace. Children are educated in grammar basics starting in elementary school, but despite efforts from the Common Core standards and other educational bodies, many professionals believe the informality of new technologies and the changing modes of communication have weakened the emphasis on proper grammar. My research primarily focuses on how professional grammar deficiencies stem from inadequate grammar teaching and changes in communication methods, and how, to some degree, the ability to construct sentences is analogous to the ability to construct thoughts. Therefore, understanding and employing proper grammar are important for both educational and professional success.

Understanding Grammar in Context

Before analyzing the impact of grammar, its meaning must first be clarified. Different definitions of grammar exist in different contexts. While the New Oxford American Dictionary defines grammar as “the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general,” a linguist’s definition of grammar can be more subjective. For example, radical linguist Noam Chomsky introduced the idea of universal grammar, which is the idea that “children are born with the innate capacity to master language, a power imbued in our species by evolution itself” (Ross). Chomsky further pursues this idea by saying our internal sense of grammar is what uniquely allows humans to “form plans, do creative art, and develop complex societies” (Ross). While the idea of “universal grammar” seems plausible to some degree, the concept of teachable grammar is more widely accepted. An interesting approach to grammar teaching is addressed in the International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning by Indian researchers Samuel Praise and K. Meenakshi, who define grammar as “merely a set of rules to preserve the written word” (Praise). The main point Praise and Meenakshi make is that “grammar is not taught in isolation but often arises out of communicative task,” and therefore, in learning language, “opportunities are provided for both inductive and deductive learning of grammar” (Praise). This implies a correlation between grammar and communication, which supports Chomsky’s theory that understanding proper grammar is what allows people to conceive and execute plans. By drawing this parallel, Chomsky, Praise, and Meenakshi suggest that grammar has greater implications than simply constructing sentences.

Grammar Methodology

It is hard to gauge how grammar should be taught since there are so many confounding variables that can affect linguistic studies. Even if curricula are standardized, subjective teaching styles and/or different knowledge absorption levels of students can greatly influence the effectiveness of a curriculum. Therefore, when studying grammar, it is more relevant to focus on case studies of various methods. According to Praise and Meenakshi, analyzing trends in communicative language learning can provide insight into the changing role of modern-day grammar teaching. These trends can be broken into traditional approaches (up to the late 1960s), classical communicative language teaching (1970s to 1990s), and current communicative language teaching (late 1990s to the present) (Praise). In the earliest approach, “great attention to accurate mastery of grammar was stressed from the beginning stages of language learning” (Praise). Contrarily, in the middle approach, “attention shifted to the knowledge and skills needed to use grammar [which were] the communicative skills and not simply grammatical skills” (Praise). Contemporary language teaching further emphasizes the importance of communicative skills, thus substituting the importance of grammar ability for fluency (Praise). As a result of this shift, it is becoming more important simply to convey ideas than to convey them properly.

“Texting Culture” and Communication

This trend toward informality is not uncommon, and also reflects current “texting culture.” A 2012 journal article by undergraduate student Elizabeth Gorney discusses how factors such as “email, texting, and Facebook have led to new words forming, new grammatical changes, and other modifications that are both subtle and noticeable” (Gorney). Gorney attributes “the technology and speed that messages can be delivered” to the consequential change in grammar usage (Gorney). In particular, Gorney cites abbreviations as a downfall: “though abbreviations do allow for faster communication, they take away the eloquence of [language, are unprofessional, and potentially create] a loss of understanding between people” (Gorney). Generally speaking, the developing “texting culture” is one of speed and convenience. Yet this convenience comes at a cost; the price of using abbreviations and fragmented sentence structure is proper grammar. This declining grammar usage on all fronts—personal, educational, and professional—has been attributed to the convenience of not using proper syntax. Therefore, it is a fair assumption that disregarding grammar is what makes texting language so convenient.

Explicit and Implicit Functions

Perhaps writing informally is convenient, but it is certainly not practical. Correct grammar serves explicit and implicit functions that extend to how people structure their thoughts. English Professor Samuel Keyser discusses this phenomenon within the context of grammar teaching in elementary education: “[it] is possible to look at grammar as attempting to teach children how to make, critically examine, and reformulate hypotheses about language—using their own knowledge of English” (Keyser, 40). The conclusions young students can draw from grammar studies teach them the valuable tool of deductive reasoning. In fact, it is through grammatical structure that people learn how to create strong arguments. Keyser conveys this idea through lesson plan examples that show how drawing distinctions in the English language enables students to “analyze and criticize statements which use this distinction implicitly” (Keyser, 44). For example, as early as elementary education, students learn that many verbs and adjectives create restrictions on their subjects and objects. While a painting can be pleasing to a person, a person cannot be pleasing to a painting. By distinguishing the correct contextual verb and adjective usages, young students are creating grammar constructs that allow them to better express ideas and better understand the English language.

Professional Importance

Generally speaking, students are taught the grammar basics in primary education. They learn how to use punctuation, how to conjugate verbs, and how to think critically, among other lessons. Yet the attention given to grammar has been replaced by an emphasis on comprehension. This unfortunate reality has created the misconception that one does not need proper grammar to convey an idea. The effects of the devaluation of grammar coupled with the aforementioned texting culture can particularly be seen in the professional sphere. Despite the perceived change in grammar usage employer expectations remain unchanged. According to Sue Shellenbarger, a writer for The Wall Street Journal, “managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace” (Shellenbarger). Shellenbarger further cites a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management: “about 45 percent of 430 employers said they were increasing employee-training programs to improve employees’ grammar and other skills” (Shellenbarger). The impact of poor grammar can be detrimental in the professional setting. “[S]uch looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communications errors” (Shellenbarger). In a Forbes Magazine article responding to Shellenbarger, Susan Adams notes that “language is constantly changing, and often [these] changes bubble up from informal usage” (Adams). Adams also quotes Kyle Wiens, the CEO of an online repair manual called iFixit, who claims that “he [will not] hire people who have bad grammar [and] gives all of his job applicants a grammar test” (Adams). Both speaking and writing well involve a level of intelligence and thoughtfulness that is demonstrated through proper grammar. Grammar organizes the words that create big picture ideas, which, without structure, would be exceptionally less convincing.

Opening the Discussion

In 2012, The New York Times published a “Room for Debate” in its opinion section called “Is Our Children Learning Enough Grammar to Get Hired?” This debate, which featured five professionals’ opinions toward grammar and the younger generation, was partially sparked by Wien’s comments regarding grammar. Some of the highlights of this debate follow. Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, wrote that “without grammar, we lose the precision required to be effective and purposeful in writing,” and went so far as to say “even a poorly constructed tweet reflects a poorly constructed thought. Without command of grammar, one can’t even truly read, much less write” (Rushkoff). Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, wrote that “when young people are taught to undervalue literacy as a life skill, they are being cruelly misled” (Truss). On the contrary, other professionals felt that grammar was not an all-telling indicator of job applicability. John McWhorter, contributing editor at The New Republic and TheRoot.com and author of What Language Is (And What It Isn’t and What It Could Be), wrote that “there is an extent to which scornful condemnation of ‘bad grammar’ is one of today’s last permissible expressions of elitism.” He further questioned, “How many of us can really justify barring someone from a decent job because he or she isn’t always clear on the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re?’” (McWhorter). Brock Haussamen, professor emeritus of English at Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey and lead author of Grammar Alive: A Guide for Teachers, wrote that “writing that looks careless and is riddled with errors does not preclude the possibility that the applicant has other skills and plenty of determination” (Haussamen). John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, even went as far as to say that an abbreviated writing style can serve as an asset: “If a candidate can convey in 140 characters what took me 300 words—even if it means cutting some grammatical corners—I would say that person brings a useful talent to the table” (Challenger).

What these professional perspectives can tell us is that while grammar is important, it does not necessarily prevent an individual from succeeding in a non-writing-oriented job. That being said, many professionals believe that while grammar may not necessarily be an indicator of performance, a person who pays greater attention to grammar details will likely pay greater attention to details in general. Unfortunately, there have been no studies conducted to prove this correlation, so it is important to look at the factors that can affect one’s grammar in order to draw conclusions. “An employee who can write properly is far more valuable and promotable than one whose ambiguous text is likely to create confusion, legal liability and embarrassment” (Rushkoff). Yet, is it fair to discriminate against prospective employees if their educations failed them, as opposed to their own willingness to learn? “Anyone concerned about applicants’ grammar is probably dismayed at the state of public education today, and understands that the people most poorly served by this system find it increasingly challenging to find work providing a living wage or upward mobility, much less satisfaction” (McWhorter). This issue is complex because employers want qualified applicants, but prospective employees’ inadequacies stem from factors outside of their control. To address this issue, it is important to first look toward making changes in public education.

Introducing the Common Core

In order to combat grammar deficiencies, politicians and educators combined forces in 2009 to create a set of statewide educational goals called The Common Core Standards Initiative. Currently adopted by 43 states, the standards outlined by the Common Core are intended to be “research and evidence based, aligned with college and work expectations, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked,” as specified by the Council of Chief State School Officers (Common Core). Grammar is addressed within these standards under the category of “Language Standards.” For each primary education level between kindergarten and grade 12, specific goals are outlined, such as how grade two students should learn how to use reflexive pronouns and how grade five students should be able to “explain the function of conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections…and their function[s]” (Common Core, 28). These and many more grammar goals directly address the problematic texting culture by reverting back to a teaching system that emphasizes grammar proficiency. However, because the Common Core Standards are a relatively recent establishment, it is nearly impossible to gauge their impact on the professional sphere.

A change in the way educators approach grammar is necessary in order to create a more effective and professional workforce. The Common Core Standards Initiative is trying to combat this issue, but a continual emphasis must be placed on grammar to ensure this initiative’s success in the professional realm. It is also important to draw a distinction between employers and the newest generation of employees. Many well-regarded employers note the prevalence of poor grammar in the works of younger employees, which indicates a generational shift in emphasis away from grammar and form toward expression and informality. While these employers are not denouncing the academic potential of the newer generation, many perceive a correlation between informality and laziness in the workplace. Further research should be conducted to analyze whether or not this perception is true. An understanding of the implications of a generational shift could potentially reveal the future of grammar in writing and communication. Regardless, it is clear that the Common Core is a step in the right direction. By re-emphasizing grammar in language learning, perhaps “business casual” could remain a term for clothing, not a style of writing.

Adams, Susan. “Why Grammar Counts At Work.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 July 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2015. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/07/20/why-grammar-counts-at-work/

Common Core State Standards. S.l.: J Weston Walch Pub, 2011. Web. http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/ELA_Standards.pdf .

Gorney, Elizabeth. “The Language of Texting: Altering English or a Language of its Own?.” Undergraduate Review: a Journal of Undergraduate Student Research 13 (2012): 39-42. Web. [date of access]. http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/ur/vol13/iss1/9 .

Hu, Ruyun. “Should Grammar Be Taught?” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 2.3 (2012): 596-604. Ojs.academypublisher.com. Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274661962_Should_Grammar_be_Taught

Keyser, Samuel Jay. “The Role of Linguistics in the Elementary School Curriculum.”Elementary English. 1st ed. Vol. 47. N.p.: National Council of Teachers of English, n.d. 39-45. Print.

Long, Marion, and Valerie Ross. “January/February 2015.” Discover Magazine. Kalmback Publishing Co., 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. https://www.discovermagazine.com/2011/nov/18-discover-interview-radical-linguist-noam-chomsky%3E

Praise, Samuel, and K. Meenakshi. “Importance of Grammar in Communication |Praise | International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning.”International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning 4.1 (2015):97-101. Consortia Academia. Jan. 2015. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. http://www.consortiacademia.org/index.php/ijrsll/article/view/789/365 .

Rushkoff, Douglas, John McWhorter, Lynne Truss, John Challenger, and Brock Haussamen. “Is Our Children Learning Enough Grammar to Get Hired?” The Opinion Pages: Room for Debate. The New York Times Company, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/13/is-our-children-learning-enough-grammar-to-get-hired

Schleppegrell, Mary J. “Content-based Language Teaching with Functional Grammar in the Elementary School.” Language Teaching. 1st ed. Vol. 48. N.p.: Cambridge UP, 2015. 1-13. Print.

Shellenbarger, Sue. “This Embarrasses You and I*.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 20 June 2012. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000

Nicole Frederick

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Professional historians emphasise a crucial word as part of their craft: historicisation. Good history writing remains alive to disjunctures and continuities as it studies the past and avoids being anachronistic by using present categories to look at the past.

Historian Shonaleeka Kaul, who teaches history at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, has made a major intervention in this aspect of the historian’s craft in her just-released book “Bharata Before the British and other essays – Towards A New Indology”, published by Vitasta. Kaul delves into professional history writing on India since the 19th Century, a much politically contested space in contemporary Indian politics. She argues that colonial prisms have been widely used to view the country and Indian literary sources have been viewed from a lens that was used by the West to see non-western societies as the Other.

Rethinking history writing on India

Kaul breaks with much of the extant academic commonsense that prevails in India, and about India globally, by seeking to tease out new ways of sourcing the Indian past and questioning prevailing academic wisdom.

She argues that colonial writers saw India as a society with no sense of history, unlike the modern, “rational” West that had a sense of facts, chronology, and linearity. Kaul says that the prevalence of this belief even after Independence led to much ancient Indian literature being classed as myth and thus either not of much importance to the historian or a past instrument for disseminating the worldview of the social elite across society.

Kaul differs by arguing that myths are “communitarian mechanisms by which societies make sense of themselves and their world”, thus having a crucial role in “meaning-making for any society” and “identity formation for any demographic group”. She says that scientific historiography that ignored myths in the search for scientific past truths became an “agent of Empire” in India as it reinforced the colonial claim that while the West possessed history as a civilisation, there were non-western societies that possessed only myths.

She critiques the interpretation of epics such as Ramayana as representing a conflict between aggressing Aryans and non-Aryan tribals, saying that free-floating oral narratives circulating over the millennia cannot be reduced to an essentialist interpretation. Kaul calls for an approach where myths be reclaimed as “modes of territorial becoming and belonging” rather than dismissing them as ahistorical.

India as a ‘felt community’

Theories on nationalism ranging from scholars such as Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm to Ernest Gellner see nationalism and nation-states as modern phenomena. For Anderson, nationalism in India becomes a discourse derived from the West. Taken together with a strong tradition of scholarship that saw British rule and the colonial modernity it ushered in as major disjunctures that both administratively united and altered the country, this body of scholarship sees India as a modern phenomenon.

What lay before it? Much research sees pre-modern times as lacking a sense of a pan-Indian community and being about webs of localised relationships that kept changing over time; of “fuzzy and fluid communities”, as Gyanendra Pandey put it.

Kaul breaks with this to argue that the notion of a “felt community” existed over the millenia in India. She distinguishes it from the modern nation-state, which is a recent form of political organisation across the world, but asserts that the notion of being a community bounded by the Himalayas in the north and the seas in the south comes repeatedly across historical sources, ranging from the Mahabharata, the Puranas, Tamil Sangam texts, testimonies of foreign travellers such as Al Beruni, and the writings of writers such as Amir Khusrao and Abul Fazl.

While historians are acutely aware of the disjuncture that modern technology, systems, colonialism, and mass mobilisation brought in societies, Kaul says this does not mean the absence of a “felt community” — borrowing a phrase from Rajat Kanta Ray — in India over the millennia.

Sanskrit not elitist

Kaul also makes a break with another commonsense axiom of professional history writing: that Sanskrit was elitist and exclusionary, and Prakrits were the dialects that the common people used in early India. She says that on the contrary, Sanskrit was used for the wide dissemination of ideas through public plays and often had non-conformist content.

Asserting that “there is nothing inherently sectarian or hegemonising about Sanskrit”, Kaul says, “You only have to read a Kalidasa or a Shudraka to hear the Sanskrit litterateur speak truth to power, or a Bilhana and a Kalhana to glimpse the contempt in which they held almighty kings.”

She also cites texts that “lampoon and castigate social hypocrisies”, contesting D D Kosambi’s phrase that Sanskrit writers were the “housebirds of patricians”. She adds that the Natyashastra, India’s earliest work of dramaturgy in Sanskrit, says that “Sanskrit plays were performed at festivals, among other occasions, in public places such as temples and city squares”. The text calls drama the fifth Veda for all classes of society, Kaul writes. Recalling that the Natyashastra said a Sanskrit play must not contain obscure and difficult words, Kaul says that Sanskrit and Prakrit were often used in the same play.

Kashmir’s cultural links with the rest of India

A prominent historian of early Kashmir, Kaul devotes a few chapters to Kashmir’s historical cultural links with the rest of India, questioning the notion that it was historically unique and cut off from the rest of the country. She adduces evidence from the ancient to medieval times to show that Kashmir was always seen as part of the “felt community”; that pottery found there around the 6th century BC is of the same pattern as that found in the Ganga Valley; that Sanskrit was one of the oldest historical languages used there; that Kashmiri was related to the Indo-Aryan languages, and that the Sharda script of Kashmir evolved from Brahmi.

Kaul laments that much research ignored the deep cultural ties of Kashmir with the rest of India because of contemporary political concerns, offering wide evidence for the point she makes in the context of early and medieval Kashmir.

She ends her book with chapters on history writing in India, questioning not just what she sees as a western lens to study India but also the neat division of historians in India between the Left and Right camps. She is also critical of the bureaucracy’s hold over academia in India and the API system that rewards papers published in journals aimed at increasing API scores rather than hard work leading to books with original arguments.

Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers. Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers. He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More

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