Grammar? I Hate Grammar! (part 2)
As Long As People Understand Me, That's All That Counts
This am, to an extent large, truly. You may has to look at these paragraph
a long times to figure what it am about out, but meaning across will come.
Writing or speaking like this am
the mark of a person whose is not good educated, and it am tough on the listener or
reader. For long-time fans of
SupermanTM comics, it is also a mark that you
have come from the Bizarro world.
Grammar is Boring and Doesn't Make Any Sense
I'm not surprised you feel this way. First, English grammar is mostly a set of exceptions
held together by spit and baling wire. Second, many authors of foreign language textbooks
come from a linguistics background (which can seem like the Bizarro world to most
of us!), and will use phrases like "introductory
conjunctive ending" and sentences like this:
The two past transferentives are followed by alternatives, which are mostly
contrastives.
They have not abandoned plain language in order to confuse you; they've just gone
overboard in an attempt to be precise about the concepts they are
teaching. These linguists would tell you that the main reason grammar is so
great is:
Knowledge of surface structure assists in determining the method of production
of one's utterances.
Huh? Click forward for a translation.
