On 2010-11-15, at 12:45 PM, Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar wrote:

> Briefly, my concern is not whether students use a preposition, or an object of a preposition, or a prepositional phrase "correctly" as they already know how do that. For example, how many native speakers (including dialect speakers) would say the following:
>  
> I put the pen the table.
> I put the pen on.

Few. But I've seen lots of sentences that start with a preposition and then proceed as if the object of the preposition were the subject of the sentence. 

> Nor do they need to be taught the definition of a prepositional phrase, other than perhaps to be familiar with the fact that there is a list of words (to quote the Turabian book again) that we happen to call prepositions

Except that in the case above, it would certainly simplify things to be able to explain the situation above using some metalanguage. I suppose we could simply appeal to their ear: "Read this. Doesn't it sound strange? How could you fix it?" But this goes no way to helping them understand what went wrong.

> My concern is developing effective ways to make grammar become a tool that can help students write more effectively, not some abstract, formal set of rules that need to be memorized,

Indeed, more than simply memorized would be nice, but we don't teach physics or calculus or stats or chemistry or biology simply so that students will gain the practical ability to trace the arc of a parabola, choose the appropriate catalyst for the reaction they want to initiate, or create new fruit hybrids. If the teaching of grammar can be any more immediately practical, then that's wonderful, but why must it? 

Best,
Brett

-----------------------
Brett Reynolds
English Language Centre
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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