At 02:10 PM 02/15/2001 -0600, Mary Evans wrote:
>The problem is not so much with spoken English, but with written English,
>and it seems to me there is a big difference between mastering speaking and
>mastering writing.  High school students often have not even mastered the
>art of beginning sentences with capital letters and ending them with periods
>(the conventions of English), much less the finer points of the language.
>You DO have to be taught how to write in your own and in second languages.
>It does not come naturally.

Asolutely. But written conventions such as capital letters and punctuation
aren't "grammar," as linguists use the term. Nouns and verbs and
appositives are grammar. Many famous writers have done quite well without
having studied grammar. Of course, as a grammarian, I highly recommend
studying grammar.

Dick Veit

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