Geoffrey,

ESL student? Where did you get THAT from, mate? I guess you haven't 
been on this forum for too long. 


Eduard 




On Thu, 24 Aug 2006, Geoffrey Layton wrote...

>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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