Hello-

I'm a first year graduate student, so pardon my ignorance.  

I am reading this thread regarding hostility toward grammar with
interest.  My goal is to become an adjunct professor in English after
attaining my Master's Degree, which does mean I will be teaching a lot
of composition classes.

I am currently taking a class in English grammar systems, which led me
to this list as a way to educate myself about the current issues in
grammar and English today.  

My personal reason for re-learning grammar (I was taught in the
'classical' method all through elementary school: rote, repetition,
memorization, etc.) has been so that I, as a future composition teacher,
will be better able to serve my students by bringing them an
understanding of Standard Written English.

So, to my question: if we are not to spend hours of class on grammar and
usage, how then can we as professors *improve* our student's composition
skills through the use of our grammatical knowledge?

Does that make sense?  I'm happy to clarify - sometimes my fingers move
faster than my thoughts these days.

Looking forward to hearing points of view on this-

-patty

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