Geoff,

I sure appreciate your pointing this out. It's exactly the kind of
idea about how grammar affects content (and logic as well) that we
can use to understand how texts are put together. The need to
understand then leads back to a need to use grammar.

However, I'm thinking here of after-the-fact usage of grammar--that
is, after the text has been written. We look at a finished text to
see how the writer constructed it. Then we review or introduce enough
grammar to understand the syntax being used. Perhaps students could
then apply their knowledge of grammar in creation of content, but
perhaps not. The difficulty that students have in applying their
knowledge of grammar to correcting the errors in their writing
suggests that they could not.

If, on the other hand, students were instructed to tell when and
where an event happened, wouldn't they improve their writing more
easily through modeling and feedback from peers and the instructor
than through the study of grammar? I think they would, though one
can't be sure without trying it. Have you tried it?

Bill



>>In the main, though, teachers who teach writing have much larger issues
>>than style, whether >good and bad style or correct and incorrect style.
>>Their primary emphasis has to be on organization >and content.
>
>Have you ever thought that grammar can be used to teach organization and
>content?  For example, if "who, what, why, where, when, and how" comprise
>the main content of most if not all papers, then teaching grammar is a means
>by which students can learn how to communicate this content.  Both "when"
>and "where" information are communicated by using adverbs, prepositional
>phrases, and dependent clauses.  By teaching grammar, then, you are also
>teaching the construction of meaning/content - and isn't this the goal of a
>writing teacher?
>
>Geoff Layton
>
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