I may be the guilty party who has disturbed Eduard with my post about the 
futility of conducting
"parts of speech" hunts ["Find the (PART OF SPEECH HERE) in the following 
sentences."]  To summarize, I have found it worse than useless to try to 
teach this type of "grammar," so if this is what Eduard is referring to, I 
plead guilty.

However, he is dead wrong believing that those of us who dislike teaching 
the ESL grammar that Eduard is apparently referring to are "grammar haters." 
  I consider myself a lover of grammar almost beyond measure.

In fact, my contention is that if sentence construction is what is meant by 
grammar, then grammar should not be taught in the context of writing (is 
this still the current cliche?), but that grammar is so important that 
writing should be taught in the context of grammar.  It is grammar that 
allows the construction of meaning; meaning is produced by the way sentences 
are constructed; and sentences are constructed through the use of grammar.

What seems difficult for Eduard to grasp is that elegant, graceful sentences 
are not constructed by learning, for example, that the word "running" can be 
used as a noun, an adjective, and a verb.  As an ESL student, it may be 
helpful to learn this information.  Native speakers, however, already know 
that "I bought a pair of run shoes" is incorrect, as is "I am run to the 
store" as is "Run is fun" and would never write a sentence such as these.  
In addition, such parts of speech knowledge is never required on any 
standardized test.

So the question is not whether we are grammar lovers or haters, but rather 
what kind of grammar do we love?

Geoff Layton


>From: Craig Hancock I think recent posts have been very much pro grammar, 
>so I'm curious
>about what you are referring to.

From:  Eduard C. Hanganu
> > This is supposed to be a "grammar lovers" forum, right? But why are
> > so many post on this list from people who atack grammar and state
> > that teaching grammar does not make sense, and makes no difference in
> > writing?

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